Introduction

From the internationally bestselling author of The Atomic City Girls, a provocative new novel about multiple generations of women in one East Tennessee family haunted by violence and redeemed by their rich inheritance of folk music.

Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation—to be careful of men, and desire—are not just Grace’s to learn. Her family’s tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folksongs like “Knoxville Girl” and “Pretty Polly” reminding them always to know their place—or risk the wages of sin.

Janet Beard’s stirring novel, informed by her love of these haunting ballads, vividly imagines these women, defined by the secrets they keep, the surprises they uncover, and the lurking sense of menace that follows them throughout their lives. With the same rich sense of place as Bloodroot or Serena, The Ballad of Laurel Springs is an unforgettable portrait of women fighting to make a safe place in the world for themselves and the people they love.

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Excerpt

I want to say that the accident of where I was born is not important to me in any fundamental way, but I know that isn’t true. I was as formed by the place where I grew up as by my parents, my genetic predispositions, or anything else, most certainly in the way I saw the world and what I knew to be my place in it. Is it like this for everyone? Probably not. Some places are more resonant than others. Or more distinctive. Or more inescapable. Not that I had any trouble escaping when the time was right. But did I really leave my Appalachian mountain home behind? Or does the old chestnut hold true: you can take the girl out of the hollow, but you can’t take the hollow out of the girl? ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

Chapter 1: Pretty Polly
1. Based on the title, what do you predict this book will be about?
2. What do you know about the narrator so far?
3. Was it wrong for Grace to write about ‘Pretty Polly’ for her Family History Project? Why
or why not?
Chapter 2: The Wife of Usher’s Well
4. Are missionaries necessary to the people of Tate’s Valley?
5. Do you think Pearl and her mother were justified in calling Violet a witch?
Chapter 3: The Wayfaring Stranger
6. What are your first impressions of Pearl in comparison to Miriam’s assessment of her?
7. Do you feel that Miriam’s reaction to Jacob suddenly coming home was appropriate?
Why?
8. How would you react if you were in Miriam’s situation?
9. Do you think Miriam should have moved? Would you have reacted similarly to Evelyn?
Chapter 4: Careless Love Blues
10. What is something valuable that you would like to pass down?
11. How would you react to meeting your estranged father for the first time?
12. Which story about Jacob Whaley and Frieda’s mother do you think is most likely to be
true?
Chapter 5: Devil’s Dream
13. Why do you think Jeremiah told that story?
14. What do you think really happened to Polly’s great aunt?
15. Why would Polly lie to Zach about what happened in the woods with Jeremiah? Do you
feel she was justified?
Chapter 6: Little Sparrow
16. How would you describe Tates Valley?
17. Do you identify with any of the characters from the book? Why or why not?
18. Why does Freddy’s offer bother Carrie?
Chapter 7: The Knoxville Girl
19. How would you describe the structure of the book? How does the structure affect the
story as a whole?
20. Do you see any similarities between any characters so far? Differences? Explain.

21. What is the significance of the murder ballads?
Chapter 8: Power in the Blood
22. What significance does Lydia and Finn’s argument about settling have in her story?
23. Why do you think the author mentioned the wildfires in Tates Valley?
24. Now that you’ve read Lydia’s story, who do you think is to blame for what happened, if
anyone?
Chapter 9: Pretty Polly (Reprise)
25. How do you think the rumors about Polly started?
26. How do you think Violet really feels about Will given her history with Miss Munroe and
possibly Polly?
27. Why do you think Will murdered Polly?

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