Leah Weiss

Once again Leah Weiss has woven her magic by creating a story about Southern family. She has chosen the Browns, a farming family with lots of members, a loving devoted mother, a hardworking progressive thinking father and a gaggle of children on the cusp of becoming the next generation. The location is a tobacco farm in North Carolina. The timing encompasses WWII. The characters have their own voice and Lucy prevails with her ten dollar words and her desire to roam.

One day Allie Bert show more Tucker, with her atrocious table manners and strange dialect, crosses paths with Lucy. “Bert” (as she is wont to be called) is from over the mountains landing in this strange place to help with her Aunt Violet’s household. But something is way off with her Aunt and Bert and is subsequently embraced by the Brown family. She becomes the catalyst that changes and moves the story. Who wouldn’t love the dotty Aunt Fanniebelle and the “arcane” Trula Freed and her dog Biscuit, Tiny Junior, the Mayhews and The Velveteen Rabbit. We live with these people through, war and loss, sickness, fear, premonitions and “the sight”showing tremendous strength of character. Unique for the depth of kindness imbued in the characters I could only marvel at how strongly I related to everything. I loved this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy. show less

Seventeen-year-old Sadie Blue certainly isn’t the first girl in the hollers of Baines Creek to marry too young to a man who only knows how to use his fists, but when Roy Tupkin beats her so badly she loses her baby, she decides it’s the last damn time it’ll happen to her.
This richly layered story is divided into parts, each from a different character’s point of view, weaving together the secrets and hardships of a North Carolina mountain town in the 1970s and the people who inhabit show more it.
An excellent character study with dialect true to the hills, I loved the authenticity but wasn’t bowled over by the sometimes flowery writing that romanticized the stereotypes (no matter how accurate) of Appalachia. show less

This book honestly felt like a treasure of a story.

It follows three women whose lives intertwine in ways I didn’t expect, each carrying her own history, pain, and strength.

What really stood out to me was how the story explores the way women carry the legacies of the generations before them — sometimes knowingly, sometimes without even realizing it.

The setting in Appalachia adds so much depth to the story too. The folklore, traditions, and connection to the land make the world feel show more incredibly rich and grounded.

It’s not just a backdrop — it really feels like part of the story itself.

Watching these three women’s lives slowly intersect was emotional, surprising, and very human.

By the end, it felt like the book was really about resilience, memory, and the quiet ways women support and shape each other across time.

It’s layered, thoughtful, and one of those stories that sticks with you after you finish it. show less

A 1970s Appalachian mountain town is brought to life through the alternating first-person voices of Leah Weiss’ characters. Several different people speak about the happenings in Baines Creek, North Carolina, though the common thread throughout most of the book is Sadie Blue, a pregnant teenage bride in an abusive marriage.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought the writing was beautiful, and I especially enjoyed the folksy dialect of the characters. The lives of Baines Creek’s show more locals are hard and heartbreaking, and it was easy to empathize with them. What I didn’t like was the incomplete feeling I have after finishing. We’re introduced to several characters whose stories are left up in the air. Even with Sadie Blue’s story, there wasn’t a strong, cohesive plot linking everything together.

IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE is Leah Weiss’ debut novel, and she already has a talent for drawing readers in with her intriguing characterizations. Looking forward to seeing where she goes next.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less