Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Amy Jo Burns' Shiner: modern female myth-making in a land of men

Amy Jo Burns is the writer of Cinderland, her widely acclaimed 2014 memoir, and now she’s just written her second book: a novel set in the rugged and remote West Virginia mountainside. It’s called Shiner. Wren Bird lives in a small mountain cabin, no phones, no school, few neighbors --  her father:  known among locals for his sermons and snake handling. Her mother: loving and wise, and increasingly disenchanted with Wren’s father--she is full of stories and secrets. When a tragedy shatters Wren’s homelife, she begins to see how much about her parents were a mystery to her, despite the stories they’d been telling her since she was young. She makes it her mission to seek out these stories, not realizing how much they will reveal. Shiner has been described as “novel about modern female myth-making in a land of men." This novel may appeal to fans of Delia Owen’s popular book Where The Crawdads Sing