2011 book 67

Sheri Holman's Witches on the Road Tonight
Holman's latest flickers back and forth in time to tell the story of a family and some of the lives they touch. Eddie--who grows up to be a late-night tv horror show host--is central to everything, growing up in the mountains during the Depression with his eccentric mother, who may or may not be a witch. His daughter, who grows up to be a well-known tv news anchor, is still haunted by something that happened when she was twelve. Her mother is interesting in the few bits we see of her (I wish there had been more). Then there's Tucker and Sophie, on the road writing a travel guide in 1940, who encounter Eddie and his mother. And there's Jasper, a teenage fan of Eddie's horror show. If it seems weird that I'm just listing characters, that's because they're much more vivid than the plot (Holman over-explains some things and leaves some mysteries unsolved, which is a bit unsatisfying, though I did like the end). I very much enjoyed the way she weaved Appalachian folklore into everything, even if I'm still confused by some of it. B+.