‘The Killing Tree’ a strong debut set in Appalachia
Mercy Heron has just graduated high school in her small Appalachian town on Crooked Top Mountain.
Born and raised in an insulated community, Mercy is surrounded by many colorful characters, all beautifully drawn in “The Killing Tree,” Rachel Keener’s debut novel.
Mercy’s grandparents have raised her since her mamma died. Father Heron is a strict man stingy with his love who values his reputation over all else. Mamma Rutha could be crazy, but she has a way with growing plants, healing animals and comforting an ailing heart.
Though she doesn't know anything different, Mercy begins to feel trapped in her surroundings, the mountains suddenly claustrophobic instead of comforting. She has big dreams, but she knows that nobody gets off the mountain.
People stayed on Crooktop because it was a way of life that couldn’t be found outside the mountains. And it was protected. Hidden by the giant hills from the eyes of the world. Hidden by its poverty from the interest of the world. Outsiders never knew of the love or wars that festered on the side of that crooked mountain.
And in the middle of all the festering rose the Heron house. It was a small two-bedroom-one-bath house, painted white and topped with dingy green shingles. Built in a nearly perfect square, it seemed to say, “Every angle of the Heron family fits neatly together.” But it was a lying house. And though I spent all my days and nights there, it never felt like mine.
Mercy spends most of her time avoiding Father Heron, working at the town diner and hanging out with her best friend, Della. It’s during an outing with Della that Mercy meets Trout, a young migrant worker who she begins dating. Trout opens Mercy’s eyes to the land around her and beyond.
He drove toward six and twenty mile holler. It was one of nature’s strongholds, where she was winning the war against man. The people that lived up there were primitive too. Primitive at least in the eyes of the rest of Crooktop because they were so poor. That’s what happens when cousins marry cousins, Father Heron would grumble about the six and twenty milers. But they took care of their own. ... Sometimes I even envied their sense of belonging. They were outside everything, but they were outside together. I was outside alone.
Mercy begins to fall hard for Trout, but she knows Father Heron would not approve of her being involved with a “mater migrant.” It would tarnish his good name after all. But she’s determined, and what follows is an adventure that will take her off the mountain and back again, reveal secrets about her own past and revelations about her grandparents.
Being set in Appalachia, “The Killing Tree” could have been steeped in stereotypes, but Keener does a capable job weaving the true humanity of mountain people, good and bad, into the story. This coming-of-age tale is less about regional differences than it is about the universal feelings of youth and small-town life, as well as the hope and redemption people from all over seek.
