The Fabled Earth
The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock, published by Harper Muse in 2024, is a historical fiction novel that spans 400 pages. This southern gothic tale unfolds across dual timelines, exploring themes of memory and regret through a narrative steeped in folktale traditions. Set against the backdrop of Cumberland Island, the story begins in 1932 with a gathering of elite families, where an evening of storytelling takes a dark turn, leading to devastating consequences. The narrative shifts to 1959, where reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine confronts her past as a folklorist seeks to uncover hidden truths.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of characters and events that intertwine personal histories with the haunting legends of the region. The lives of three women intersect as they navigate the aftermath of a fateful night and the impact of a once-in-a-century storm. The novel delves into southern mythology and the complexities of personal reckoning, inviting readers to reflect on the stories that shape our understanding of truth. This edition includes discussion questions for book clubs, enhancing the reading experience and encouraging deeper engagement with the narrative.
Official synopsis Publisher
Sometimes the truth is found in a folktale. An evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry when temptations arise and passions flare. Those who survive are haunted by memories and regrets in this southern gothic tale told across dual timelines.
1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year’s party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America’s finest families who come to experience the area’s hunting beside a local guide, a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week’s end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.
1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend–and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she’s raised a ghost–someone who hasn’t been seen since that fateful night in 1932.
Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide in this sweeping story inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island when a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape. Faced with a changing world, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect where a folktale meets the truth to reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along.
- Historical women’s fiction
- Stand-alone novel
- Book length: approximately 120,000 words
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs
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