Cumberland Island, Georgia, 1932. The last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family enjoy their gorgeous mansion every summer at Plum Orchard. An appealing debutante expecting to be engaged by week's end and a promising female artist who thinks she is related to the wealthy hosts help entertain a battery of eligible sons of the wicked and famous. As temptations flare, an evening of fun and fancy leads to death and reputations squashed, with consequences for generations of the families involved.

"Brock has equal parts respect and distaste for the ways of the past, but her female characters are so distinctive and alive that readers will feel like they’re fully living inside these pages."

On a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on Cumberland Island, a recluse --- a painter named Cleo Woodbine --- has fended for herself for ages. In 1959, she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly 30 years ago, and the tales of those previous generations of island dwellers return to the minds and lips of the locals. Frances Flood, a folklorist, comes to Cumberland Island for facts about her mother, who was among the guests at that debauched party so long ago. And Audrey Howell, a very young widow/innkeeper, develops an eerie double exposure photograph that turns out to be someone who hasn't been seen since that fateful night in 1932.

All sorts of past regrets and secrets swim to the top of the tall-tale tier as Southern Gothic mythology collides with the little-known history of Cumberland Island at a time when a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape.

Kimberly Brock, who is best known for THE LOST BOOK OF ELEANOR DARE, brings her interest in women’s lives and lore together again in this fun and meaningful mystery. Her prose is majestic and her characters sublime, while her ability to manipulate time and tension keeps the story rolling to the delight of readers. There is so much going on here that there should be confusion as the plot whips readers back and forth, but Brock is such a capable dream weaver that the tale never fails to open door after door of mystery and deceit. You will be breathless by the end (I certainly was), and the resounding drama of it all will haunt you long after the book has been closed.

Brock has equal parts respect and distaste for the ways of the past, but her female characters are so distinctive and alive that readers will feel like they’re fully living inside these pages. I’m a sucker for tales of islands and recluses, and the disruption of family timelines by hard-won truths. THE FABLED EARTH also threw in some supernatural elements, which made me a very satisfied reader.