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All That Is Hidden by Laura DeNooyer-Moore
Are secrets worth the price they cost to keep?
Ten-year-old Tina Hamilton finds out the hard way.
She always knew her father had a secret. But all of God’s earth to Tina are the streams for fishing, the fields for planting and harvesting–a world snugly enclosed by the blue-misted Smokies. Other than the seasons, nothing ever changed.
Until the summer of 1968.
Tina’s life changes forever. Trouble erupts when northern exploitation threatens her tiny southern Appalachian town.
Some folks blame the trouble on progress, some blame the space race and men meddling with the moon’s cycles, and some blame Tina’s father.
A past he has hidden catches up to him as his secret settles in like an unwelcome guest. The clash of progressive ideas and small town values escalates the collision of a father’s past and present.
Set in an idyllic environment, Laura DeNoover-Moore’s book, All That Is Hidden, brings to life a small-town community set in a small Appalachian town where family and community intersect in a myriad of ways.
Tina Hamilton, the main character, thinks her dad is the cornerstone of life in their small community. And indeed, he is. As a deacon and member of the community board, her dad provides guidance and advice for nearly everyone in town. Until something in his past comes back to find him stranding Tina, her brother, and the family from the townspeople’s affections.
Laura DeNoover-Moore has created a novel that brings history to life—from the beliefs that God would not allow man to walk on the moon, to the cultural ways of clogging and moonshine, to the family ties and close-knit relationships that are hallmarks of a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. Her characters’ speech—from the cadence, the word choice, to the grammar, and sentence structure—bring small town Appalachia to life. I particularly enjoyed the local parlance such as: “Folks are as pleased as a dog with two tails to wag.” I also really enjoyed the characters; when a fellow player breaks his arm, Tina fights to play for the local baseball team despite the constant trouble the boys give her for playing as a girl.
Laura’s writing brings so many facets of life alive. Such as in the vignette where city people come into their town looking for hillbillys such as Jed Clampett and Tina’s father hams it up for them. Her writing will make you laugh out loud, but it’s also informative in so many ways such as when the kids meet Ole Joe, a man of color, who lives in the mountains. Initially they think he’s going to kill them because they’d heard stories about him and his rifle, but he teaches them to whittle instead. All That is Hidden is a beautiful gem of a book –filled with fascinating characters, an original setting, and dialogue that situates the reader to the time and place seamlessly. For fans of historical fiction, you won’t want to put this book down!
Buy All That Is Hidden by Laura DeNooyer-Moore today!
All That Is Hidden by Laura DeNooyer-Moore
has been chosen as the first-place winner in the
ABR Book Excellence Award
contest for best
Southern Fiction, Coming of Age & Y/A
