In this haunting family saga, a young woman must delve into her country star mother’s music to break a curse that has plagued the women in her family for generations—before her time runs out.
On the morning of Rhea’s eighteenth birthday, she makes a shocking discovery—her mother was the famed singer of some of country music’s most iconic tunes, the legendary Lulabelle “Belle” Powers, and she’s just inherited her massive estate. Eager to know more about this woman she barely remembers, Rhea travels to Nashville to retrace her mother’s footsteps. But as she gets to know Belle’s closest friends and learns more of her story, she can’t help but think something is being kept from her.
It isn’t until years later that her mother’s best friend Hess reveals the truth—her mother believed all the women in her family were cursed to die at thirty-three—Belle’s exact age when she passed away in a mysterious plane crash. Hess dismisses the curse as pure superstition, but Rhea feels something sinister stalking her, her own life beginning to mirror her mother’s as she gets closer to her thirty-third birthday. Desperate for answers, Rhea delves deeper into her mother’s music, uncovering Belle’s last unpublished album Night Songs, which leads her back to her roots in ways she never could have imagined.
Alternating between Rhea’s journey and Lulabelle’s untold rise to country queen, Night Songs is an electric story of inheritance and resilience, love and freedom, and the power of music to connect across generations.
Praise for STRANGE FOLK
August 2024 Library Reads Pick
“Dyer's debut is a tale of Appalachian folk magic, addiction, and shadows, both figurative and literal, with a moving multigenerational mother-daughter story at its heart.”
—Booklist
“[A] rich debut…it’s catnip for fans of homespun tales of rural America.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“Delicious and haunting, Strange Folk is a story that deftly weaves family legacy, uncanny inheritances, and the perennial question of how a place can shape who we become.”
—Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters
“This book thrums with a strange magic that will stay with you long after you're done.”
—Alyssa Cole, New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching
“Lush, vivid, and utterly unique…as much a rich exploration of trust, identity, and redemption as it is a page-turning mystery. A bewitching debut!”
—Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of The Spare Room and We Were Never Here
“A thrilling, unforgettable journey into little-known hollers where a dangerous brand of mountain witchcraft still brews.”
— Kirsten Miller, author of The Change and Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books
“Original, gripping and beautifully conjured, Strange Folk is a story of magic as you’ve never seen it before. I loved this unforgettable novel of the hope and heartbreak of family and the transcendent power of the natural world.”
— Emilia Hart, New York Times bestselling author of Weyward
“Completely enchanting…a seductive slice of magic.”
—Ashley Winstead, author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour
“Strange Folk pulses with curious light, drawing the reader closer and closer until they are fully under the spell that only books this well-written and dreamily atmospheric can cast.”
—Leesa Cross-Smith, author of Half-Blown Rose, an Amazon Book Club Pick
"Lush and arresting, Strange Folk transports readers into a transcendent world of Appalachian magic, where secrets and desire continue to shape each generation.”
—Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon
“I can’t remember the last time I could not only see a story, but smell, taste, touch, and hear it, too. With this stunning debut, Dyer shows herself to be a new standard-bearer for contemporary Southern gothic.”
—Julia Whelan, author of Thank You for Listening
“In this bewitching debut, not only do we bear witness to ‘folk’ who call on the strange and supernatural to change fortunes; we also see the magic of forgiveness, grace, and purpose.”
—Diane Marie Brown, author of Black Candle Women
“A taut thriller threaded through with dirt and blood, honey and moonshine. I couldn’t put this book down.”
—Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson and The Garden
About Alli
Alli Dyer was born in Tennessee and raised in the mountains of Virginia. She is the author of Strange Folk and Night Songs, and for the last decade, she has worked in entertainment and book publishing. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her family.
