ARC Review: Strange Folk by Alli Dyer

Strange Folk
Author: Alli Dyer
Publication: Atria Books (August 6, 2024)

Description: A woman returns to her estranged, magical family in Appalachia, where a conjuring meant to protect the community may have summoned something sinister in this lush, shimmering, and wildly imaginative debut novel, perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Deborah Harkness, and Sarah Addison Allen.

Lee left Craw Valley at eighteen without a backward glance. She wanted no part of the generations of her family who tapped into the power of the land to heal and help their community. But when she abandons her new life in California and has nowhere else to go, Lee returns to Craw Valley with her children in tow to live with her grandmother, Belva.

Lee vows to stay far away from Belva’s world of magic, but when the target of one of her grandmother’s spells is discovered dead, Lee fears that Belva’s magic may have conjured something far more sinister.

As she and her family search for answers, Lee travels down a rabbit hole of strange phenomena and family secrets that force her to reckon with herself and rediscover her power in order to protect her family and the town she couldn’t leave behind.

My Thoughts: After her marriage implodes, Lee brings her children with her to the one place she thought she'd never go back to: home. Craw Valley is in Appalachia. Lee fled at eighteen to get away from a bad home situation and to get away from her magical heritage. 

She is staying with her grandmother Belva who is the local healer until she decides what to do with her life. She still isn't interested in the magic that runs through her family but her fifteen-year-old daughter Meredith is. When her mother refuses to let her great-grandmother teach her about the family magic, she goes to the grandmother her mother doesn't talk about. Redbud says she'll teach Meredith but has her own agenda.

Meanwhile, Lee is getting to know her childhood friends again. Dreama has turned into a yuppie pod person and Kimmie is still the wild child she always was only the wildness is more frantic. She also reconnects with Otis who might have been her boyfriend if she hadn't already decided in school to leave the place behind. 

When Lee's favorite high school teacher is found dead, Belva is blamed. He was the local pedophile and Belva's group had cast a spell on him. Then the local drug dealer is found dead with more ties linking him to Belva. 

Lee has to investigate if she wants to free her grandmother from suspicions. The investigation will not only need to be about current events but will also require looking into the past and into family secrets.

This was an engaging debut novel filled with real people with real people problems in an environment where magic is real. I enjoyed the storytelling. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.