Witches on the Road Tonight ~ Sheri Holman

Eddie, formerly Captain Casket host of a Saturday night horror movie TV show, is trying to end his life which is ending regardless through cancer. He has sent his daughter, Wallis a New York news anchor, a message telling her as much. Eddie is sprung from the mountain people. His maternal ancestors were accounted witches for generations. Wallis spends her life running away from her family, particularly her foster brother and first love, Jasper. She carries the guilt of Jasper's death with her. This long night is the anniversary of that death. Eddie spends the night in his prop casket; Wallis in the bed of her new co-anchor. Witches on the Road Tonight is the complex tale of how each of them got to be where they are and what they are. Eddie and Wallis both travel through memory all this very long night. Where they arrive is where they began, more or less. Wallis's mother sums up their lives succinctly: Some people are just too damaged to live. It's natural selection, sweetheart. I've never read Darwin, but I'm sure he would agree. This is a tale of Appalachia. It is mountain folklore, with its intimate knowledge of the natural world and visceral witchcraft. As in most witch tales, this is a tale of seizing control in occult ways. It is a tale of mothers and daughters and sons and lovers and ghosts, all feeling their way along in the moonlight, looking for the dawn. The many adult themes in this book make it beyond the grasp of younger teens. Definitely a mature read. But also definitely a book that does not willingly close until the end.