Candles Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell

[Blackbeez]

As an avid reader and fan of southern gothic literature, I felt this book has it all; Darkness, New Orleans, murder and the strange habits and cultures of the "Old South". The authors weave a tale that begins with a child and bring you into the convoluted web of a murder that this child is constantly trying to figure out in her head while the world around her falls into chaos.
It is a bit confusing at first but piece by piece the authors put the story together for their readers. We are led through the deep south, it's racism and ultimately it's greed and silly customs that can ruin lives and families. From Alabama to Florida, the readers are treated to the southern bell style of the woman in retreat, how she handles crisis and her child.
There is a comforting darkness to the story as well. It's rather silken, but it is tense enough to make you feel the entrapment of the characters and the confusion about their situation. You never really know what is going on until the end and you begin to try and gain conclusions as a reader. I love that in a book.
I also felt very connected to this book, being that I was born and raised in Florida, it is a very descriptive and accurate account of the area described in the story and I appreciate that as well. This is definitely a book that will make you feel something. I'm not sure what that something may be, in myself it produced a sort of homesickness and sympathy with some of the characters. It also produced a familiarity that I recognized within myself that refers to 'intuition', natural medicinal knowledge and something my mother, grandmother and I used to call "zapping" lol! where you can actually feel another person before you see them...
Candles burning is a well written and interesting novel that anyone who loves dark southern gothic writing will enjoy.