On Agate Hill

On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith

The story of Molly Petree is given to the reader through many "artifacts" and "documents" found recently in a box on an old plantation. I liked the format, and felt as if I were doing genealogical research, piecing together Molly's life after the Civil War in North Carolina. We are introduced to 13 year-old Molly through her own diary entries and correspondence to her friend Mary White, and understand that she is an orphan on a broken plantation, surrounded by the "ghosts" of those lost in the war.  She is a wild youth but aims to rise above the poverty and life she has; she struggles for education, a life of her own, and family. The "documentation" gives a great depiction of life in the south after the Civil War. There are reports during her school years at Gatewood Academy, recipes, prayers, songs and even court documents from a trial where she is accused of murdering her husband at the turn of the century. As when doing research, there are little gaps that one fills in to tie the story together, but On Agate Hill provides great "documentation" for a complete story Molly Petree and her life of hardship, survival, murder and love.
-Deirdre