Inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island, The Fabled Earthis a sweeping story of family lore and the power of finding your own voice as Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide with a changing world.
1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year’s party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America’s finest families come to experience the area’s hunting beside a local guide; a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week’s end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.
1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend – and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she’s raised a ghost–someone who hasn’t been seen since that fateful night in 1932.
As a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape and shifting tides reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect to illuminate the life-changing power of finding truth in a folktale.
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PRAISE FOR THE FABLED EARTH
‘Brock (The River Witch) delivers an evocative Southern yarn of long-held secrets. In summer 1932, Georgia’s Cumberland Island comes to life in 1932 with an annual party at the grand mansion owned by the philanthropist Carnegie family. Joanna Burton, a socialite from Asheville, N.C., is in town to attend the party with her fiancé, wealthy islander Ellis Piedmont, and her beauty and selfish airs fuel the jealousy and anger of local artist Cleo Woodbine, who’s in love with Ellis. By the end of the night, two boys have accidentally drowned, including Ellis. In chapters set in 1959 from Cleo’s point of view, shortly after Joanna has died from a stroke, Brock gradually reveals how the women’s rivalry contributed to the fatal accident. A parallel narrative follows Joanna’s daughter, Frances Flood, who returns to the island to learn more about her late mother’s life and retrieve her heirloom pearls. Brock’s insightful writing brings her characters to life, highlighting Cleo’s regret and Frances’s curiosity, and the pitch-perfect plotting will move readers quickly through the tale. It’s an adroit work of Southern fiction.’
~PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY
“In her third novel, Brock proves marvelously adept at intertwining mythic stories and contemporary reality and showing how people reconcile the two…While tackling issues of race and class prejudice, Brock’s lush, multilayered writing begs to be read slowly as she gently unfolds the mysteries of this picturesque yet haunted Southern landscape, where once-elegant Carnegie mansions still stand. An ideal choice for admirers of Delia Owens, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Sarah Addison Allen.”
~BOOKLIST
“Spanning multiple timelines and points of view in both grounded and fantastical realities, Brock adroitly employs atmospheric, lyrical wordsmithery in a historical novel deftly aware of the societal challenges of the past in which it unfolds and the present in which it will be savored…The Fabled Earth delivers a satisfying and ultimately uplifting vision of a world in which stories matter more than anything else, because stories alone hold the power to show us who we truly are, guiding us toward who we might yet become.”
~THE POST & COURIER (Charleston, SC)
“Georgia’s low country has acquired a masterful new fabulist. Brock brings the sepia-toned past to vivid life…with plenty of delectable mythical details that gin up some heady atmosphere…indelibly Southern.”
~ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
“With its lush prose and equally lush setting, Brock’s novel weaves in the history of Cumberland Island, Georgia, with ghosts, island magic and secrets, all with an eye for the art of storytelling. Southern Gothic and historical fiction readers will enjoy this novel.”
~SOUTHERN LITERARY REVIEW
“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.”
~BOOKREPORTER
“Brock weaves her saga through the myths and legends of the 1930s, the rapidly changing times and the chancy randomness of life. This poignant tale is wonderfully redolent of a bygone era, with its timeless setting in which the waves of history come crashing upon Cleo’s quiet shore…”
~HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY
‘THE FABLED EARTH is lush and vivid, with passages so beautiful they will break your heart and then turn around and mend it. The lines blur between magic and mystery, pulling you into a dreamy, immersive experience. It’s a tour de force of a novel. You can always tell a born storyteller when you read one. And Kimberly Brock is the real deal.’
~Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author of OTHER BIRDS‘
“On a wintry afternoon, I am transported to the mythic, primordial, legend-steeped South, specifically the barrier islands of Georgia, phish have captivated me since childhood. I am loving the evocations of the beauty and violence of nature and the layered-in-time stories of quite original characters. Kimberly is a bold and imaginative storyteller who proves that events are linked in mysterious ways.”
~Frances Mayes, New York Times bestselling author of the now-classic Under the Tuscan Sun and A Great Marriage
“Within the first page, the gorgeous writing and vivid sense of place had pulled me in. If Gothic can be an island, this is it.”
~Janie Chang, bestselling author of The Library of Legends
‘Kimberly Brock’s THE FABLED EARTH is a brilliantly layered, unforgettable story of memory, myth, and found family. Off the coast of Georgia, on Cumberland Island, three separate women search for belonging in the wake of incomprehensible loss. Weaving a stunning Southern landscape, Gilded Age glamour, and the societal turmoil of the late 1950s, Brock takes readers on an epic journey that conjures the longing of forgotten youth while simultaneously reminding us of its dangers. I have never read a novel where the author’s love of storytelling shines more brightly than this one.’
~Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of THE MATCHMAKER’S GIFT
‘THE FABLED EARTH follows three women in 1952 who are trying to escape the ghosts of their pasts. Set in dual historical timelines, the novel flashes back to 1932 where the wild beauty of Cumberland Island is juxtaposed against the encroaching opulent wealth of the families of the Gilded Age. Soon, these two worlds collide tragically with the burning of Thomas Carnegie’s Dungeness Mansion. A magical read full of secrets, the writing is lush and full of lore and mystery. THE FABLED EARTH is as gorgeous, twisty, and tangled as Cumberland Island itself. Kimberly Brock has established herself as one of the most exciting voices in Southern literature today.’
~Constance Sayers, author of THE LADIES OF THE SECRET CIRCUS
‘With lyrical prose, finely rendered characters, and a dream-like setting, Kimberly Brock’s latest is a hauntingly beautiful tale. Brock is a master at crafting deeply moving stories combining Southern folklore, history and legend. THE FABLED EARTH is a must-read for those of us who love to be transported to another place and time and find companionship and comfort between the pages of a book.’
~Yvette Manessis Corporon, Senior Supervising Producer, EXTRA, and internationally bestselling author of WHERE THE WANDERING ENDS
‘Kimberly Brock’s THE FABLED EARTH is a compelling novel that will captivate readers who cherish richly woven tales of history, family secrets, and the mystical allure of the southern landscape. In this novel, Brock masterfully creates a narrative that is both enchanting and profoundly moving. Fans of the atmospheric storytelling found in Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, will be enthralled by Brock’s ability to evoke a sense of place and time. The Fabled Earth is more than a historical novel; it is a deep dive into the power of legends and the strength of women who seek the truth, no matter how buried it may be. This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys the transformative power of storytelling.’
~Angela Jackson Brown, award winning author of HOMEWARD
‘THE FABLED EARTH is a book to savor on a long, redolent afternoon, with a glass of sweet tea and time to fully immerse yourself in the wondrous atmosphere of historic Cumberland Island. Kimberly Brock’s lush, lyrical prose is transportive, and her cast of colorful, memorable characters will entrance readers craving an authentically Southern story with a touch of melancholic, earthy fabulism. Spanning generations, this hypnotic tale delights with an exquisitely poignant reverance for the places and people of coastal Georgia. Highly, highly recommend!’
~Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of THE DEVIL AND MRS. DAVENPORT
Cassandra Campbell offers a compelling saga that spans 25 years and eventually reveals carefully kept secrets. In the summer of 1932, on Cumberland Island, Georgia, an annual party is held at the Carnegie mansion. Present are families of teh Gilded Age, including spoiled socialite Joanna Burton; her fiancé, Ellis Piedmont; and budding artist Cleo Woodbine. The three form an unlikely triangle when Cleo falls for Ellis, sparking Joanna’s jealousy. Tragically, two young men drown that summer. Ellis is one of them. In 1959, Cleo meets Joanna’s daughter, Frances, and, in flashbacks, the events of that summer are revealed. Campbell’s mellifluous voice is perfect for Brock’s lush passages and well-conceived plotting. Campbell’s understated performance enhances the beauty of Cumberland Island and the mystery surrounding the drownings.
~AudioFile Review
The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock (historical fiction) – The Fabled Earth is a beautifully-crafted, character-driven tale of friendship, family drama, mystery, and folklore, set in and around Cumberland Island, Georgia (the remote island where John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette married). In the first half of the 1900s, the Carnegie family built several mansions on Cumberland as retreats which they subsequently abandoned after several decades. This dual-timeline story toggles between 1932 and the opulence of the Carnegie family’s time spent at these grand mansions, and 1959 in a small coastal Georgia town near Cumberland, when people were grappling with integration, the Korean War, and misogyny. Both time periods are well-crafted and engaging, and Brock does a wonderful job of transporting the reader to another time and place; the marsh and the island come alive with her descriptions. Readers who enjoy learning about new places and earlier time periods will love this slow-burn gem.
~The Buzz Magazine
“Fans of “Where the Crawdads Sing” rejoice. Kimberly Brock’s “The Fabled Earth” seemingly fulfilled every fiction itch we’ve been aching to get at. Brocks’ once-in-a-century writing pulled us in faster than the Cumberland Island’s storm, transporting us to seemingly new and fully imagined worlds faster than we could realize. This might be our favorite Fall read already.”
~Mavey Books, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
