New Book: The Mirk and Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson

The Mirk and Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson was released on March 11th and I have to admit it fascinates me. Nickerson released Strands of Bronze and Gold last year, a Southern Gothic Bluebeard retelling. This new book is Tam Lin, a favorite of mine--and several of you. There are some wonderful Tam Lin retellings out there--my firsts were Robin McKinley's short story and Pamela Dean's novel, both of which thrilled me. McKinley's is more traditional and Dean's Tam Lin is anything but, which makes it a love it or hate it kind of novel. I love it and have reread it more than a few times, although it has been several years now since the last rereading. I really need it in ebook format, please, powers that be! I have owned three copies already and one more edition would make me even.

Anyway, I love Southern settings being a Southerner myself and I love Tam Lin so this book is nearing the top of my TBR list. I've also learned that Nickerson is a friend of a friend of a friend, which happens in the the South.

Book description:

A Southern girl. A wounded soldier. A chilling force deep in the forest.
All collide at night’s darkest hour.

Seventeen-year-old Violet Dancey has been left at home in Mississippi with a laudanum-addicted stepmother and love-crazed stepsister while her father fights in the war—a war that has already claimed her twin brother.

When she comes across a severely injured Union soldier lying in an abandoned lodge deep in the woods, things begin to change. Thomas is the enemy—one of the men who might have killed her own brother—and yet she's drawn to him. But Violet isn't Thomas's only visitor; someone has been tending to his wounds—keeping him alive—and it becomes chillingly clear that this care hasn't been out of compassion.

Against the dangers of war and ominous powers of voodoo, Violet must fight to protect her home and the people she loves.

From the author of Strands of Bronze and Gold comes a haunting love story and suspenseful thriller based on the ancient fairy tale of “Tam Lin.”