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    The Steep and Thorny Way
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    The Steep and Thorny Way
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    The Steep and Thorny Way
    Ebook352 pages4 hours

    The Steep and Thorny Way

    By Cat Winters

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten.
      1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African-American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee’s oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank Denney, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now her father’s killer is out of jail and back in town, and he claims that Hanalee’s father wasn’t killed by the accident at all but, instead, was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him—who happens to be Hanalee’s new stepfather.
      The only way for Hanalee to get the answers she needs is to ask Hank himself, a “haint” wandering the roads at night.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherABRAMS
    Release dateMar 8, 2016
    ISBN9781613129067
    Unavailable
    The Steep and Thorny Way
    Author

    Cat Winters

    Cat Winters's debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was released to widespread critical acclaim. The novel has been named a finalist for the 2014 Morris Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, and a Booklist 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. Winters lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

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    Reviews for The Steep and Thorny Way

    4/5

    25 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A thrilling re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten.1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee’s oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now the killer is out of jail and back in town, and he’s claiming that Hanalee’s father’s death wasn’t an accident at all. Instead, he says that Hank was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him—who just so happens to be Hanalee’s new stepfather.In order to get the answers she needs, Hanalee will have to ask a “haint” wandering the roads at night—her father himself.MY THOUGHTS:I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.WOW, WOW, WOW!What an incredibly fantastic book! I was so emotionally engaged in the writing that the story was over before I knew it. I sat back and muttered, “wow!”Then I had to read the last three chapters again just cuz. This book is excellently, and superbly researched to take place in the 1920s in a southern state in the USA. The KKK was running rampant during the period depicted in the story. Racism, hate, violence and cruelty was directed toward blacks then.Our Protagonist, a young girl who is half-black, loses her father. The powerful writing style brought together with the unique voice of the author creates an electrifying atmosphere of bigotry and hate. Innocent people are tormented by racists, with their actions being justified based solely on being white and the tormented are black.I don’t live in an area where racism is prominent and am utterly ashamed at how horrible HUMAN BEINGS can be to one another. Yes, in Canada where I’m located, blacks live with whites and we are friends with lots of different ethnic groups. Racism is just another form of bullying that has been allowed to go on for far too long in the States. I’m sick of reading about it and living with it in this day and age in neighboring countries. When will people learn? When will this world learn that we are ALL human. We all bleed red, we all have the same structure, mechanisms for life and reproduction and basic needs like eating and breathing. We should be celebrating our differences, not condemning someone because of them. Just because a person looks different, they’re treated so horribly? My daughter is special needs; she is Down syndrome and yes, she looks different. Does this mean she too would be treated with bigotry in the US? What about those families who also have special needs children that live in the USA? I’m wondering how they get treated for looking different? Racism is still prominent in the States…why?Anyway, enough of THAT. This author did a fantastic job laying out the setting accurately describing the era, the political and social barriers blacks faced at that time, and the struggles the Protagonist faces when she seeks answers and justice for the death of her father.The writing style is strong and direct. You should find yourself becoming emotionally engaged. The plot flows with force, bringing to light all the dark and disgusting sides to human nature for the reader to see, hate and want to crush. I think the author is brilliant and the story fantastic.The paranormal twist added was rather interesting too. It was just enough to creep you out and make you want to keep reading. However, I didn’t like how abrupt the ending was and it would have benefited the story more to have more of an investigative nature added to Hanalee’s character.I don’t really think this story was meant to be a ‘mystery’ so much as to point out how a black girl is treated by the KKK during the 1920s. I still found it excellent and recommend it. It made me angry lol, which means the author was successful in getting her point across. Well done! I haven’t been this angry since reading “The Mississippi Burnings” and then, watching the movie.
    • 4/5
      The story starts off a bit slow, but stick with it!! It wasn't my favorite of hers, but still a great story with a very important message.
    • 5/5
      In The steep and thorny way, Cat Winters has created a stunning portrayal of 1920s Oregon that reflects the diversity and complexity of the American experience. As a modern twist on Hamlet, Winters succeeds in conveying a murder mystery, love story, and supernatural tale set against a historically accurate background of racism, homophobia, and Prohibition bootlegging. The compelling, complex characters make this a hauntingly beautiful story that will enrich anyone who reads it.
    • 4/5
      Plot in a Nutshell Hanalee Denney is growing up the only bi-racial person in Elston, Oregon town during the 1920s. The plot initially centres on the return to town of Joe Adder, a teenager accused of having killed Hanalee’s father in a drink driving accident. Quickly we’re pulled into the more ghostly elements of the story with Hanalee’s father returning to try find his way home and protect his family. Through her conversations with Joe and her father and her own investigations we see the reality of Hanalee’s life in Elston; a town heavily under the influence of the KKK where racism and xenophobia flourish in a state where eugenics and anti-miscegenation laws are on the stature books. ThoughtsIt is clear that this novel has been incredibly well researched and this deep understanding of the period underpins the whole story creating a real sense that you are in the midst of Prohibition in a small town rather than simply telling the reader about it. I also felt that Cat Winters has pitched the issues in the novel very well for her audience by tailoring the themes to her characters rather than simply being an issue novel. As such we see the KKK attracting younger members of the town into a junior group, Hanalee worrying about how she can pursue her dreams (of both education and ultimately love and marriage) when so many options are closed to her on account of her skin colour and Joe struggling to cope not just with the reality of the eugenics programme but also his parents lack of support. Overall I found most of the characters well written and multi-faceted which made it both easier to slip into the world Cat Winters has created but all of the more difficult to accept some of the ideas at play in the novel. That said I think the female characters are by far and away the stronger and more relatable of the novel and the relationships between them, especially Hanalee and her best friend Fleur, provide real structure to the story. However, whilst each character was well written and very real I did feel that there was something a little lacking in overall character development particularly given the amount of change they go through during this book and it was this that stops me for rating it more highly.
    • 5/5
      This book was amazing. The portrayal of a biracial main character was so well research and done so well. You can tell that Cat Winters did her research into what life was like in the 1920s in Oregon for black Americans and biracial people. It was super unsettling and disturbing to me that the world was like this before and the KKK existed and basically ran a state. It's quite horrifying what humans will do to each other if they look different or are different from you. This novel was so moving and I think the plot being inspired by Hamlet really worked. I loved the setting, the characters and the writing (it was very powerful).

      Definitely recommend. 4.5/5 stars
    • 5/5
      Setting: 1920s Oregon during ProhibitionGenre: Historical fiction, mystery and classic retellings (Hamlet)Narrator: Hanalee Denney, a biracial daughter of a black man and white woman.Plot: Hanalee is determine to find out who killed her father when the gay teen Joe Adder charged with the murder claims his innocence. Conflict: Joe and Hanalee join together facing both the Klu Klux Klan and the eugenics movement. Recommend: yes, I like the mashed up with Hamlet; (mom gets remarried a year after dad dies) which manages to keep you in suspense as to who’s the villain. Also the ways in which homophobia and racism are portrayed as victims of white discrimination and hatred.
    • 5/5
      I have read all of Cat Winter’s previous books and enjoyed them all . This was another well done supernatural mystery of sorts set in the 1920's. The story deals with ghosts, the KKK, and also takes a look at issues of race and sexual orientation that were being dealt with in the era...specifically in Oregon. I enjoyed the characters, thought the mystery was well done and also loved all the history that was incorporated into the story. Hanalee is a wonderful heroine, she is a good girl but also believes that she should have the same rights of everyone and not have to live in fear. She is plucky and strong and outspoken but also vulnerable. None of the side characters are developed quite as well as Hanalee is, except maybe Joe Adder. Joe is a teenage boy who has recently got out of jail for hitting and killing someone while driving drunk.There are a lot of historical and social issues dealt with in this book. The Ku Klux Klan haunts these pages and it was interesting to see that history. Hanalee is the child of a mixed marriage and she is being made to pay for the sins of her parents so to speak. Again, it was interesting to see how society reacts to Hanalee and how clear her view is of how people see her. Not all people are bad and many accept Hanalee for who she is not how she looks; but not all people are that open-minded either.The book was well written and ended up being very hard to put down. The story starts a little slow, but really picks up after the first couple chapters. There is an excellent afterward showing a timeline of laws involving race/sexual orientation that were passed in Oregan from the 1900's to current day. Additionally this book is meant to be a sort of retelling of Hamlet which is clever and unique as well.Overall I really enjoyed this book a ton. I loved the blend of supernatural, mystery, and history and really enjoyed how the book dealt with all the societal issues of that era. If you are a fan of supernatural history or just historical accounts of the 1920’s in general I would recommend this book. I enjoy Cat Winters as an author because she writes in such a unique niche and does it well. I look forward to reading her next book when it releases.
    • 2/5
      The year is 1923 and in a small town in Oregon, hate spreads like wildfire. Life is challenging for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a black man and a white woman, but she has learned to persevere. When her father is killed by a drunk driver, she’s devastated by his absence from her life, especially after her mother quickly remarries. The boy responsible for his death, Joe Adder, is released from prison a mere seventeen months after being sentenced and once Hanalee finds out she takes her anger and a loaded gun to pay him a visit. After speaking with Joe, she leaves with her entire perception changed after hearing a vastly different story about what happened the night her dad died: he didn’t die from an automobile accident and that the man her mom remarried is the one truly responsible for his death.I’ve read every Cat Winters book at this point but they seem to be hit or miss for me. I loved both In the Shadow of Blackbirds and The Uninvited, but felt The Cure for Dreaming was slightly mediocre in comparison. The Steep & Thorny Way falls in the latter category. Much like Dreaming, I felt that the subject matter was something I would normally welcome, however, overall it ended up feeling incredibly flat and listless. Cat Winters signature style has always been a fusion of stories with historical importance and a flair of paranormal, and it’s something that she does quite well. With, Thorny though, the Hamlet retelling comparisons as well as the paranormal aspects were elements which could have been left out entirely without affecting the story. A story about a half black/half white girl living during the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and a homosexual boy that is struggling to survive in a time where the study of eugenics has many thinking the issue of homosexuality is something that can be “fixed” is absolutely a strong enough story on its own.I always appreciate the lesser known periods of history being given a spotlight and it’s interesting to see a story focus on the influence of the Ku Klux Klan extending far past the deep South, clear into Oregon. Tackling both race and sexuality prejudices in addition to touching on the topic of eugenics was edifying without feeling overwhelming, except I kept feeling off and on as if these characters were simplistic versions of their true potential. I suppose what it all boils down to though is Winters definitely demonstrates the ugliness of the times, yet it’s covered in a glossy veneer that hides the true grotesqueness doing the seriousness of the story somewhat of a disservice.