I received a copy of this book via Word Slinger Publicity in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

 

The Bleeding Door by Todd Cook spans a broad swath of time, looking at the history of two families, and the region they live in, from a time just before the Civil War all the way to the 1970s.

 

The story follows Seth Waller and Enoch Slone, a pair of boys once friends and turned enemies. They live in the Appalachia region of Kentucky, living there in a time when the land was wild. While historical fiction, this story powerfully portrays the era Enoch and Seth grew up in, how easy it was for feuds a lá Hatfield/McCoy to grow up and escalate, and how the War turned neighbour on neighbour.

 

Threaded through the story of Enoch and Seth are snippets of regional history both past and present, that show the early shaping of the region, and its influences, and the lineage of the Wallers and Slones into the early 1970s. While I found these snippets of past and future fascinating and quite enjoyable, they are not clearly delineated from the main story thread, which caused some confusions at first.

 

(I absolutely love the cover! It is a perfect fit for the story within.)

 

If you love historical fiction, and have an interest in Appalachia, you are sure to enjoy Cook’s The Bleeding Door.