The Moonshiner’s Daughter: A Southern Coming-of-Age Saga of Family and Loyalty by Donna Everhart is a novel loaded with authenticity and grit, set in North Carolina, 1960.

Moonshining in the Brushy Mountains of Wilkes County, North Carolina had been a popular occupation for generations, even though it was against the law. The law wasn’t based on dangers to health, it was based on taxes, originally put in place right after the American Revolution to pay off its war debt. Even though illegal, it was common practice. Well-hidden stills dotted the heavily forested hills, and it became a lucrative but dangerous business, dodging revenuers while making their runs on the hilly mountain roads. It was common practice to bury ill-gained money rather than betray their occupation by depositing large amounts of cash in banks.

Jessie Sasser’s family had made moonshine for generations. But she wants no part of it. When she was four and her little brother Merritt two, Jessie had the horrible experience of watching her mother die when her clothes caught fire while she and Jessie’s father made sour mash. Jessie’s father refuses to talk about her mother or what they were doing at the time of her death.

Even though Jessie, now sixteen, and her brother are expected to help in the family business, she deeply resents it. She doesn’t want to be known as a moonshiner’s daughter. She attempts to seek comfort in food and develops an eating disorder, constantly binging, then purging, harboring a distorted vision of her body with feelings of shame and worthlessness. A school nurse tries to help Jessie see what she’s doing to her body and health, but Jessie is in denial. She feels unpopular at school, is a loner, rarely speaks to the other students, and doesn’t care about her appearance.

When an unexpected revelation occurs, Jessie sees her family and her own strengths in a different light, an insight that changes her life.

I found The Moonshiner’s Daughter fascinating. I was soon accustomed to the local dialect: “I reckon I might could do that.” Although the story is believable, I found it hard to relate to Jessie. My school days were filled with friends and total involvement with my school’s extensive music program. But I was vaguely aware of girls who obviously viewed themselves as misfits. After reading this book I wish I had reached out to those girls, shown friendship. I would highly recommend this book to women and teenage girls, not to learn how to make moonshine (though interesting), but to become more aware of how mental attitude affects our health and feelings of well-being. Plus, it’s a riveting, entertaining story.