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The Ballad of Frankie Silver
 
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The Ballad of Frankie Silver (Paperback)

by Sharyn McCrumb (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 340 pages
  • Publisher: New English Library Ltd; New edition edition (18 Mar 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340717157
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340717158
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,206,293 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #25 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > M > McCrumb, Sharyn
    #27 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > M > McCrumb, Sharyn

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Product Description

Review
'A riveting tale ... two grisly killings that are separated by more than a century but share a chilling secret.' -- Newsday 'The fifth book in Sharyn McCrumb's enthralling series of Appalachian mountain tales ... McCrumb threads both stories into a single pattern, a dense and lovely but very dark design' -- New York Times Book Review 'The mountain girl became a legend, one that Sharyn McCrumb has taken and woven into a colourful intrigue of fact, fiction, history and the present.' -- Arizona Republic

Product Description
Frankie Silver was arrested in 1832: a small blonde girl, only eighteen, charged with the savage murder of her husband Charlie in their frontier cabin. Lafayette Harkryder was also eighteen when he was arrested, accused of the brutal killing of two young hikers. Two violent crimes, two trials - and two people whose refusal to speak out may well send them to their deaths, separated by one hundred and fifty years of Appalachian history. Burgess Gaither, a twenty-five-year-old-lawyer who witnessed the story from the discovery of Charlie Silver's body to the hanging of Frankie Silver, speaks for Frankie. Sherriff Spencer Arrowood, who arrested Fate Harkryder so many years ago, has been invited to his execution by the state of Tennessee. As the two stories unfold, Gaither and Arrowood both realize that both Frankie Silver and Fate Harkryder have hidden part of their stories - and may have shielded the truly guilty.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars An Appalachian Window, 31 Aug 2006
By Bigbadbiker (Oxfordshire, England) - See all my reviews
I'd not read anything by this author before. I agree with another reviewer that the "present day" storyline is less than effective, being mainly there to mirror the events of the past. The best part is set in the past and gave a feel for the gentrification of the frontier and made me visit a few websites to get some local images.
I did find the narrative of Burgess Gaither engaging but was a little sceptical of his seeming liberalism for someone at this time in history.
Stated themes of the author (in case you were too slow to catch on) were the conflict between mountain people and lowlanders, celts and saxons (where did this come from?), rich and poor.
Not much mention of the slavery of the time or the fact that women had no franchise. Sister Mary is a memorable character who does a little to redress this.
All this aside I would like to try more of Mc Crumb's books. I liked that it was based on fact and her strong sense of place made me want to visit this part of the world.
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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have read this year, 19 Jul 2005
This review is from: The Ballad of Frankie Silver (Hardcover)
In her novel McCrumb blends the stories surrounding two homicides, which are seperated by more than a century, but expose some grisley similarities. These similarities are not, however, necessarily, with regard to the crimes themselves, but to the accused and the legal systems that tried them.
I loved the way McCrumb slowly introduces you to the characters and makes you care, not only about the accused, but also those involved in their arrests and trials and beyond!
After reading such a well researched and historically accurate piece of fiction (based on the true story of Frankie Silver) I felt a little disappointed to have finished it and leave behind the Appalacian mountains described in the nineteenth and twentieth Centuries and the character's lives, which I became entwined in....thats the talent of a really great writer.
It's like watching a really good Western.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Too much historical detail obscuring the plot and characters, 24 Oct 1999
By A Customer
This is a very disappointing follow up to the earlier Spencer Arrowood books - a series I have greatly enjoyed.

The book follows a pattern established in earlier volumes with two narratives from different times intertwined. This time however, the historical tale of Frankie Silver, who was hung for the murder of her husband, is fatally weighed down by undigestible paragraphs of highly undramatic "background" on the (real) characters involved. All this stuff should have stayed in the author's research notes.

The story is a fascinating one, and should have made an exciting narrative. Indeed from time to time it takes fire, and becomes a page turner. Unofortunately, the present day tale involving Spencer Arrowood, lacks any fire at all. We know the guy on death row didn't do it, and we know Spencer won't save him. The prisoner doesn't seem to care very much , and nor do we.

My disappointment with this book is directly in inverse proportion to my enjoyment of the earlier volumes in the series. Hopefully there will be a return to form soon. Meanwhile try reading "She Walks These Hills" which is an excellent example of what Ms McCrumb CAN do.

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