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Sharyn McCrumb
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Ballad of Frankie Silver Hardcover – May 1, 1998

by Sharyn McCrumb (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 341 ratings
See all formats and editions
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Obsessed with a nineteenth-century murder in which a young woman was hanged for the crime, Tennessee sheriff Spencer Arrowood suspects that an innocent man is about to die for killing a young couple hiking the Appalachian Trail. 85,000 first printing. Mystery Guild Main, Lit Guild Feat Alt, & Doubleday Alt. Tour.
Previous page
  1. Book 5 of 12
    Ballad
  2. Print length
    304 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Dutton Adult
  5. Publication date
    May 1, 1998
  6. Dimensions
    6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0525939695
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0525939696
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sharyn McCrumb is one of the major wonders of the mystery world. Her books about forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson (including Highland Laddie Gone) are strong, meaty contemporary stories; her comic novels (Bimbos of the Death Sun, Zombies of the Gene Pool) are delightful satires. And then there's the jewel in her crown, the series known as the Ballad novels (including The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter and The Rosewood Casket) where the third-generation Appalachian resident McCrumb sews together what she calls "colored scraps of legends, ballads and fragments of rural life and local tragedy" into books that are like Appalachian quilts. The Ballad of Frankie Silver is the fifth in the Ballad series, and it might well be the best. The blend between the old story and the new is perfect, as Sheriff Spencer Arrowood digs into the 1832 case of the first woman ever hanged for murder in North Carolina--18-year-old Frankie Silver, charged with dismembering her husband--while some disturbing new evidence is surfacing about another, much more recent capital crime. If you have friends who don't read mysteries but liked Cold Mountain, pointing them toward McCrumb might be the start of something big. --Dick Adler

From Kirkus Reviews

A summons to a long-delayed execution--Fate Harkryder, the condemned man he arrested 20 years ago, has reached the end of his appeals--sends Tennessee sheriff Spencer Arrowood back in time over 150 years to the case of Frankie Silver, the teenaged bride and mother who was hanged in North Carolina in 1832 for killing her husband with an ax, dismembering his body, and burning it in front of their baby daughter in their one-room cabin (an outrage that turned the locals against her more powerfully than the murder itself). Spencer has been haunted for years by Frankie's true-life case--a painful example, from arrest and trial to appeal and execution, of upper-class justice inflicted on a lower-class defendant--but even he wonders what possible connection this cause clbre can have to the even more sordid case of Harkryder, convicted of robbing, raping, and killing a pair of young lovers hiking the Appalachian Trail. As he delves more deeply into Frankie Silver's story--presented here through the eyes of court clerk Burgess GaitherSpencer comes ever closer to the last secret the doomed murderer took to her grave, while realizing that that knowledge may leave him as powerless to help Fate Harkryder as to mitigate the law for Frankie Silver herself. Though the weight of the evidence sifted makes this in some ways the most impressive of McCrumb's acclaimed Ballad series (The Rosewood Casket, 1996, etc.), the burden of numberless names, relations, pasts, and futures, which make the point about class justice a hundred times over, eventually sinks the modern-day narrative in conscientious local history. (Literary Guild selection; Mystery Guild main selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dutton Adult; First Edition (May 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525939695
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525939696
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 341 ratings

About the author

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Sharyn McCrumb

Sharyn McCrumb

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I am an award-winning Southern writer. I am probably best known for my

Appalachian "Ballad" novels, set in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains. These books include New York Times Best Sellers She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket, which deal with the issue of the vanishing wilderness, and The Ballad of Frankie Silver, the story of the first woman hanged for murder in the state of North Carolina; The Songcatcher, a genealogy in music; and Ghost Riders, an account of the Civil War in the Appalachians.

My newest novel St. Dale, the Canterbury Tales set in NASCAR, was published by Kensington Books of New York in 2005, and is currently a nominee for the Library of Virginia Literary Award in Fiction and a finalist for its People's Choice Award.

Honors include: the 2003 Award for Literature given by the

East Tennessee Historical Society; AWA Outstanding Contribution to

Appalachian Literature Award; Chaffin Award for Achievement in Southern

Literature; Plattner Award for Short Story; and AWA's Best Appalachian

Novel.

I was the first writer-in-residence at King College in Tennessee. In 2001 I

served as fiction writer-in-residence at the WICE Conference in Paris, and

in 2005 I was honored as the writer of the year at the annual literary

celebration at Emory and Henry College. (And I was the first Southern writer to take along a NASCAR driver to that literary seminar. Thank you, Ward Burton!)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
341 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Marcia K
5.0 out of 5 stars justice then and now!
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2024
Verified Purchase
Enjoyed reading the way of trials and justice. Frankie Silver really only a young woman caught in a bad marriage. Recommend reading this book!
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John Cleary III
5.0 out of 5 stars I gave this to a coworker who likes historical fiction and he is in awe about it.
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
The book is slow to start, and does not pick up the pace quickly.
That said,the writing is excellent and it was a surprise how I kept my interest.
Some of the Author notes in the back are very unexpected.
The stories are true, as true as a historical novel can make them.
And Norma Bonesteel is based on a real person. That is like saying that Granny Weatherwax (prachett) was real. Spooky.
I gave this to a coworker who likes historical fiction and he is in awe about it.
2 people found this helpful
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Maria Proto
4.0 out of 5 stars Unique
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2016
Verified Purchase
A great way to retell a historical story! The book was a little slow for me at times but it was well written, well thought out and interesting.
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cndsandss
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2023
Verified Purchase
I read this book several years ago after hearing McCrumb in an interview. I loved it. I bought this one for my daughter-in-law, as the one I had was passed among my friends and I don't know where it is now.
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Gloria Tagnosky
3.0 out of 5 stars 2nd hand book about a folk lure song
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2023
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Great light read about a true story about real life murder. $2.00 used purchase
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Emily
5.0 out of 5 stars The Ballad of Frankie Silver creates more questions.
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
I found this based 9nntrue story fascinating. I listened to this book many years ago. However, I never hear the end because the downloaded file was corrupt. Books on Tape acknowledged the file was bad, but no fix ever came. So, when the print book was available, I had to have it. There were times, as I was reading, I found myself reeling with the injustices exhibited due to law and blind protection for others. I kept hoping revelations to what really happened would be allowed. Gripping emotionally. Not a fluffy story to.make you smile, but you will come away with knowledge that the truth does not always come to light.
2 people found this helpful
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Ashley
5.0 out of 5 stars "You'll count your fingers after shaking hands with the preacher"
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2014
Verified Purchase
Thought provoking book. This book was very telling in the way in which the court system worked in the 1800s and how similar things are (in some ways) today. We have come a long way, but we still have a tendency to convict the innocent based on preconceived notions & opinions relating to their background and family history rather than by reasonable doubt. Regular folks are not educated on the law as much as they should be and rely heavily (and pay) attorneys to protect their rights and inform them as to legal procedure, but that doesn't always happen. We should all make an extra effort to learn about our individual liberties.
2 people found this helpful
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Kathy
5.0 out of 5 stars Sharyn McCrumb is a terrific story teller
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
Sharyn McCrumb is a terrific story teller. Her facts are carefully researched to make her novels all the more believable. The Ballad of Frankie Silver is a heartbreaking tale of two death penalty crimes separated by 200 years, and the unspoken stories behind the court decisions in both cases. The writing is superb.
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