A land more kind than home, by Wiley Cash

Nine-year-old Jess is the center of this neo-Gothic Southern novel which is set in a rural area of North Carolina.  His brother Christopher, known to all as “Stump,” is three years older, but mute and, in some undiagnosed way, damaged.  Mother Julie is a faithful attendee at the evangelical church run by the charismatic Carson Chambers.  Snake-handling and poison drinking are features of worship.  When Stump sees something he shouldn’t have, the pastor decides it is time to “cure” Stump, setting in motion tragic events that have their roots in earlier history and relationships.  The local midwife, formerly a regular congregant of the church, has removed the children from it for the past ten years, fearing for their safety.  But she cannot save them all.  I’m actually not sure how I felt about this study of evil, except depressed at the end.  It isn’t Faulkner, but is being well-reviewed elsewhere.  306 pp