The instant New York Times bestseller! Named a LibraryReads Pick for March 2023 and a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Oprah Daily, Elle, and LitHub!
From Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, comes a riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition.
Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans.
Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.
Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.
You will fall in love with Sallie Kincaid, a feisty and fearless, terrified and damaged young woman who refuses to be corralled.
Jeannette Walls graduated from Barnard College and was a journalist in New York. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, has been a New York Times bestseller for more than eight years. She is also the author of the instant New York Times bestsellers The Silver Star and Half Broke Horses, which was named one of the ten best books of 2009 by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. Walls lives in rural Virginia with her husband, the writer John Taylor.
Praise for Hang the Moon "A wild ride through prohibition-era Virginia with a scrappy heroine at the wheel."
—People "A rip-roaring, action-packed novel set during prohibition filled with head-spinning plot twists and enough dead bodies, doomed romances, and sudden betrayals to make you wonder if George R.R. Martin had decided to ditch fantasy for Southern Gothic."
—The New York Times "A propulsive read.
Hang the Moon goes down easy... like the forbidden whisky that defines the life of Sallie Kincaid."
—Associated Press "Jeannette Walls's masterwork... a thrill ride through Prohibition and change in the American south... Glorious."
—The Washington Post "Wild, smart, energetic.
Hang the Moon succeeds in seamlessness, its narrative of Roaring '20s country life, roller-coastering along."
—Los Angeles Times “You’ll fall in love with Sallie [Kincaid] on the very first page and keep rooting for her all the way through to the last.”
—Good Housekeeping “Brilliant and effervescent. Walls has written a stunning and compelling tale.”
—NPR.org “Jeannette Walls is a force to be reckoned with… She has indisputably positioned herself as a writer of great worth, and any work of hers is one to be appreciated.”
—LitHub
“A rollicking adventure set in the Virginia mountains during Prohibition, starring the unforgettable Sallie Kincaid. To say she is bold and fearless would be unjust to her wit and vulnerability. This is a fun and thrilling read.”
