The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival
Jedidiah Robbins is a man on a crusade. From town to town, his Gospel train rides the rails of 1920s Appalachia, spreading the Good News with his daughter and a loyal group of roustabouts in tow. But Jedidiah’s traveling revival company has a secret: in addition to offering the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it also delivers spirits of another kind. Prohibition is in full swing, but The Sword of the Lord train keeps the speakeasies in the towns it visits in business by providing the best that mountain stills have to offer. While beyond the gaze of federal agents, the operation eventually runs afoul of an overzealous small-town sheriff and a corrupt judge, setting in motion a series of events that could land them all in chains. Told with haunting lyricism, this is the story of a preacher full of contradictions, a man for whom the way is never straight and narrow. It bends like the river, a river that leads him in the paths of a different brand of righteousness—and perhaps even to salvation.
"In his latest novel, Terry Roberts has created an unforgettable character in Jedidiah Robbins, a reverend who delivers both sermons and whiskey to his followers, but his novel transcends mere satire to become much more. Ultimately, The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival contemplates complex questions of faith and morality in a world ripe with hypocrisy. Terry Roberts is an immensely gifted writer and he gets better with each book. Bravo!" ― Ron Rash, PEN/Faulkner Finalist and NYT bestselling author of Serena
"This ballad of a novel is an affectionate account of a charismatic evangelist and his devoted team. Part Elmer Gantry, part confidence man with a heart of gold, Jedidiah Robbins delights and surprises us in this Prohibition-era romp of romance and moonshine, as impossible to resist as a Doc Watson solo. Rev. Robbins is haunted by the past, confronts the KKK, and though all too human at times, displays a bedrock of spirituality, and even makes friends with the Grim Reaper, in this picaresque narrative of loyalty and love in the mountains of North Carolina." ― Robert Morgan, author of Chasing the North Star
We earn a commission for purchases made through the following links.
Book details
- Author
- Terry Roberts
- Imprint
- Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Fiction › Small Town & Rural
Fiction › Literary
Fiction › Historical - Topics
- Appalachia · Prohibition era · bootlegging · moonshine · traveling revival · historical fiction · small town · 1920s America
- ISBN-13
- 9781684421633 (Paperback)9781684421640 (Hardcover)
About the author
TERRY ROBERTS is the author of seven novels, including In the Fullness of Time, The Devil Hath a Pleasing Shape and The Sky Club.
Roberts’s honors include the Willie Morris Prize for Southern Fiction, the Thomas Wolfe Literary Award, the James Still Award for Writing About the Appalachian South and two Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Fiction. Additional nominations and finalist recognition have come from the International Thriller Writers Organization and the Southern Literary Review.
Beyond the books, Roberts is a lifelong teacher and educational reformer. His mountain fiction draws on six generations of family history in Western North Carolina, including the bootleggers, preachers and storytellers among his ancestors.
Terry lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina.