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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Jordan Elizabeth’s Cahootus Hollow is a historical coming-of-age with light paranormal influence. Fourteen-year-old Clara lives on a struggling farm in 1870's rural New York, when a winter blizzard sets off a chain of events that alter her place in the household. After her father’s death, blame settles heavily on her shoulders, and her mother’s behavior changes in ways Clara cannot understand. Seeking refuge from the tension at home, she begins visiting an abandoned riverside house once owned by the Veldink family. Inside, she uncovers a family Bible that links her to Markus Veldink, her mother’s first husband, and to a past that has been concealed from her. As whispers of a ghost named Anouk echo through the hollow and the farm faces uncertainty, Clara must decide who she is and where she belongs in a community bound by history and survival.
Jordan Elizabeth’s Cahootus Hollow is a beautiful historical novel, and the author does a spectacular job of anchoring the story in a post–Civil War agrarian setting of farm labor, quilting bees, fire brigades, inheritance customs, and the expectations placed on daughters—all of which are integral to the story’s framework. As a mother, Clara is the protagonist I want to root for and wrap in a hug. She has a fierce devotion to place, even after being pushed away, returning and insisting on claiming that space. Her determination to work in the fields beside Ralph when outside help is arranged reflects loyalty shaped by responsibility. The settings in Cahootus Hollow are near cinematic, from the yellow-walled Veldink house with its hidden stair and attic trunk, to the bustling Timian kitchen where dawn meals precede the fieldwork. Elegantly written and visually arresting, the novel takes readers beyond history and the supernatural, straight into literary fiction and all the sophistication that entails. Very highly recommended.
