There is no doubt that a tremendous strength was required of the men and women who survived the Civil War and rebuilt their lives during the Reconstruction period in the South. Scarlett O’Hara, fist in the air, promising never to be hungry or let any of those she loves go hungry, is seared upon my mind, and now, Molly Petree, refusing to become a “ghost girl” will be printed there beside her. For as she says, I live in a house of ghosts. I dare say she lives in a world of ghosts.

I am like a ghost girl wafting through this ghost house seen by none. I truly think I would blow away save for this piece of fool’s gold I keep here in my pocket for good luck.

I am taken by the way some writers can paint a picture with words that make you feel the physical and mental stress of their characters. Lee Smith does this beautifully.

He will burn in Hell for sure if there is one. But I am so cold right now as I sit here writing that Hell sounds pretty good. I put socks on my hands for gloves but they are cracked and bleeding anyhow. Liddy rubs them with lard. My face is as red and rough as a cob. I cannot write my hands are too cold. This is my blood on this page. It is snowing again.

I wanted to pull on a blanket, and believe me, it is not cold in my apartment.

[a:Lee Smith|72932|Lee Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1219780700p2/72932.jpg] became a favorite writer for me as soon as I read [b:Fair and Tender Ladies|199635|Fair and Tender Ladies|Lee Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389575982l/199635._SY75_.jpg|1437835], and [b:On Agate Hill|199636|On Agate Hill|Lee Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442970592l/199636._SX50_.jpg|1851466]On Agate Hill reawakened the magic that she planted in me then. As I loved Ivy Rowe, so I love Molly Petree. The reader is brought to that love through much the same device, for we read her diary and her letters and her thoughts that are meant only for herself and are so uncensored and honest they make one cry. She experiences losses that seem unbearable, injustices that sting, and grace that seems deific to me, for she is so often saved by a simple love. She is so deserving, because she is so magnanimous; she loves the souls of people, not their outer visages; she never looks down at anyone.

Molly learns about love as she leads her life, and we learn about love with her. It is found in unexpected places. It is ever present and only undiscovered.

Now I understood that love does not reside in places, neither in the Capulet’s tomb nor the dales of Arcady nor the Kingdom by the Sea not in any of those other poems that Mary White and I read so long ago, love lives not in places nor even bodies but in the spaces between them, the long and lovely sweep of air and sky, and in the living heart and memory until that is gone too, and we are all of us wanderers, as we have always been, upon the earth. ( )

Characters really come to life in this book, even the secondary characters. The speech is done well, descriptions too.
Molly Petree is the main character. She becomes an orphan and feels los, like a ghost child. She's taken in by a family member, but doesn't quite fit in. Her life changes even more when a man comes into her life and sends her to school.
All the twists and turns are true to life experiences, but not so fantastical they're not believable. There are some heart wrenching parts. ( )

This book is interesting as it is told through journal entries. The story begins as Molly is a young girl living with extended family members after the Civil War. The book gives some insight to the struggles of reconstruction. Various characters come in and out of her life and since it is told through her eyes, you do not know how much is just childlike imagination.

Having read and loved other books by Lee Smith, I cannot say that this is one of my favorites. Parts of it I thoroughly enjoyed but other parts seemed as if she just ran out of things to write. The beginning of the book was fascinating, but the end just seemed to run out of steam to me. Several loose ends remained in my opinion. ( )

Yet another book I couldn't wait to be done with! I never felt connected to the characters in this story and I didn't care for the construct of telling the story via diary entries, letters and court testimony. ( )

This one started out fine (except for the silly construct of the current day young woman finding the diaries and writing about it ridiculously casually to her professor), but halfway through it lost its thread and the main character's personality was no longer recognizable. In addition, I found the deposition and the final letter from Simon Black to Molly to be unacceptable -- two very reticent men becoming very chatty, one even on his deathbed. ( )