Eventide by Sarah Goodman (Twitter, Goodreads)Published by Tom Doherty Associates on October 6th 2020
Genres: Fantasy, Ghost Stories, Historical, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 320
MADNESS, SECRETS, AND LIES
Wheeler, Arkansas, 1907
When their father descends into madness after the death of their mother, Verity Pruitt and her little sister Lilah find themselves on an orphan train to rural Arkansas.
In Wheeler, eleven-year-old Lilah is quickly adopted, but seventeen-year-old Verity is not. Desperate to stay close to her sister, Verity indentures herself as a farmhand. But even charming farm boy Abel Atchley can’t completely distract her from the sense that something is not quite right in this little town. Strange local superstitions abound, especially about the eerie old well at the center of the forest. The woods play tricks, unleashing heavy fog and bone-chilling cold…and sometimes visions of things that aren’t there.
But for Verity, perhaps most unsettling of all is the revelation that her own parents have a scandalous history in this very town. And as she tries to unearth the past, sinister secrets come with it—secrets that someone will go to violent lengths to protect….
I really enjoyed this book! Having read the book, I have to say that the cover is amazing and I think it is perfect for it.
The main character is Verity Pruitt and immediately we find out that she and her little sister, Lilah, are orphans. With their mother dead and their father going mad, they have been sent on a train to Arkansas with the hopes that they will be adopted. While this is their situation right now, Verity has plans. Her goal is for them to get adopted together and stay there just until she is old enough to take her sister back to New York so she can go to school.
As you can guess, that isn’t what happens. Lilah is quickly adopted and that’s when Verity realizes that this was always the plan. What she also realizes is that if she wants to stay near her sister, she will have to indenture herself as a farm hand…which she does. I honestly liked the family she was with more and even though she had to work day in and day out, I think she ended up with the better option.
As the story progresses, it is clear that there is something weird about the town they now live in. The woods have strange things happening in them, some of the people act a little off, and over a short period of time, Lilah begins to change. As Verity tries to figure out what is happening and why she and her sister are involved in the weirdness, she and those she loves are put in danger.
I thought Goodman did a great job with building out the characters in this story and pulling me into their world. From the second they got off the train, I couldn’t stop feeling like something was going to go wrong and I wanted things to be ok for Verity. I thought the way her relationship developed with Abel was done well and when the twist happens, my heart hurt for her.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and if you’re looking for a historical YA with a bit of a gothic feel, you should check this one out. I’ll be looking for more books by Sarah Goodman in the future.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
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