The Ash family
(Book)

This lyrical debut novel follows Berie, a North Carolina teenager headed for her freshman year of college. En route, Berie meets Bay, an alluring mountain type who leads Berie back to his farm and away from the safety of her predestined future. Bay's farm is actually the compound of the Ash Family, an environmentalist community living off the land in the Great Smoky Mountains. The mission of the group is straightforward and benevolent: cease all behavior that damages the Earth. The group's Jim Jones-style leader, Dice, even describes them as too smart to be utopian. Berie is easily indoctrinated, and she leans enthusiastically into her role within the family, caring for animals and making meaningful relationships with other members. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that danger lurks behind every decision the family makes. Shirking Western medicine leads to making botched abortion tea. Simple viruses threaten to wipe out the entire group. When the compound is threatened by developers, Berie finds herself canning napalm instead of pickles and fruit. Dektar's deft construction of the Ash Family's world and their environmentalist values brings a meaningful new story to the canon of cult narratives. Perfect for fans of Philip Roth's American Pastoral (1997) and the film Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene.--Courtney Eathorne Copyright 2019 Booklist

In her excellent debut, Dektar probes life in a cult with a masterful hand, excavating the troubled mind of a young woman who joins what she thinks is a modern-day commune. Rather than boarding a plane for college, 19-year-old Berie leaves her home in Durham, N.C., and meets an alluring man named Bay at an Asheville, N.C., bus stop. He invites her into the Ash family fold, where he tells her she can stay "three days, or the rest of your life" on their co-op farm tucked away in the mountains. The Ash family follows a hypnotic and powerful leader called Dice, who engages in violent "actions" against developers who will harm the natural world. Dice dubs Berie "Harmony," and she begins the hardworking life of living off the grid and rejecting everything outside the family as a "fake world." Berie cuts off her mother and ex-boyfriend, believing that she has found a place where she belongs, but as much as she struggles for trust and acceptance-and craves intimacy with Bay-she makes mistakes and pays the price. She also learns that the family can be a threat to those who go astray. Dektar's eloquent, often poetic prose draws readers into this disturbing, powerful novel. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

On an off-the-grid farm, a teenager finds a new home, family, and something far more sinister.When 19-year-old Berie decides to run away instead of going to college, she meets Bay, a mysterious, scarred stranger who offers to bring her to his home: a farm in the North Carolina mountains. Bay lives there with his communitythe Ash Familyunder the guidance of Dice, their charismatic, larger-than-life leader. The Ash Family lives off the land, without possessions, and in the so-called "real world." Bay tells Berie she can stay for three days or the rest of her lifea refrain that echoes throughout the book. Renamed Harmony, Berie sheds her "fake world" name and begins to assimilate into the group. She learns (sometimes painfully) how to care for animals, milk and herd sheep, make cheese, and other tasks needed in the real world. Life on the farm is not all singing, flower crowns, and environmental concern, though. There are also locked doors, secrets, and physical violence. Harmony struggles with her lust for Bay, her desire for material things, and fake world thoughts that threaten her life on the farm. When Harmony befriends Queen, a curious, tattooed former addict, she begins to see how she could be led astray. At times the narration becomes clunky. Despite not being told fully in flashback, there are multiple allusions to Harmony's future knowledge. These interjections undercut the tension Dektar has been building throughout the novel. Regardless, Dektar is clearly a talented writer; it's most apparent in her descriptions of nature and farm minutiae: "I woke to find every needle of pine jacketed by a low frozen cloud, sparkling with rime," and "heavy happiness came down and trapped us in its wax." The novel also shines in its thoughtful portrayal of cult members' (likely) complicated feelings: devotion, love, fear, desperation, and purpose.An affecting, cleareyed debut. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred Review* This lyrical debut novel follows Berie, a North Carolina teenager headed for her freshman year of college. En route, Berie meets Bay, an alluring mountain type who leads Berie back to his "farm" and away from the safety of her predestined future. Bay's farm is actually the compound of the Ash Family, an environmentalist community living off the land in the Great Smoky Mountains. The mission of the group is straightforward and benevolent: cease all behavior that damages the Earth. The group's Jim Jones–style leader, Dice, even describes them as "too smart to be utopian." Berie is easily indoctrinated, and she leans enthusiastically into her role within the family, caring for animals and making meaningful relationships with other members. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that danger lurks behind every decision the family makes. Shirking Western medicine leads to making botched abortion tea. Simple viruses threaten to wipe out the entire group. When the compound is threatened by developers, Berie finds herself canning napalm instead of pickles and fruit. Dektar's deft construction of the Ash Family's world and their environmentalist values brings a meaningful new story to the canon of cult narratives. Perfect for fans of Philip Roth's American Pastoral (1997) and the film Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Already a multi-award winner (e.g., the Louis Begley Fiction Prize, the David McCord Prize for the Arts), Dektar crafts the story of 19-year-old Berie, who is persuaded by a charismatic man she meets at a bus station near her North Carolina home to abandon her old life and join a community he has established called the Ash Family farm. Self-sufficient, off-the-grid, and sustained by high ideals and strong relationships, the farm seems like the perfect placeuntil the new friends made by Berie (renamed Harmony) start vanishing. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

Sitting in a bus depot, bound for college in Durham, NC, 19-year-old Berie thinks she knows what she wants, and it isn't higher education. That's what her mother wants for her. When a man named Bay strikes up a conversation with her about the commune to which he belongs, she impulsively ditches her college plans and boyfriend Isaac to accept his offer to take her there. What she finds is a family of 23 adults running a well-organized, organic, off-the-grid farm in the Appalachian valley, and she's drawn to the family's at-one-with-the-earth philosophy. There are no rules, except those of Dice, their charismatic leader, who allows no mistakes. As she leaves her past behind, newcomer Berie becomes Harmony and strives to prove herself worthy to participate in the group's ecoterrorist activities. To get in Dice's good graces, she tells him about her mother's diamond necklace, which would put money in the farm's coffers. Harmony's ardent desire for acceptance backfires. Soon she can't ignore the lies, cover-ups, and vanishing commune members, and she is pushed into action to free herself and others. VERDICT Dektar's powerful tale of the human desire for purpose and acceptance takes many twists and turns on a roller-coaster ride to the thrilling, unpredictable conclusion. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/18.]—Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO (c) Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In her excellent debut, Dektar probes life in a cult with a masterful hand, excavating the troubled mind of a young woman who joins what she thinks is a modern-day commune. Rather than boarding a plane for college, 19-year-old Berie leaves her home in Durham, N.C., and meets an alluring man named Bay at an Asheville, N.C., bus stop. He invites her into the Ash family fold, where he tells her she can stay "three days, or the rest of your life" on their co-op farm tucked away in the mountains. The Ash family follows a hypnotic and powerful leader called Dice, who engages in violent "actions" against developers who will harm the natural world. Dice dubs Berie "Harmony," and she begins the hardworking life of living off the grid and rejecting everything outside the family as a "fake world." Berie cuts off her mother and ex-boyfriend, believing that she has found a place where she belongs, but as much as she struggles for trust and acceptance—and craves intimacy with Bay—she makes mistakes and pays the price. She also learns that the family can be a threat to those who go astray. Dektar's eloquent, often poetic prose draws readers into this disturbing, powerful novel. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Apr.)

In her excellent debut, Dektar probes life in a cult with a masterful hand, excavating the troubled mind of a young woman who joins what she thinks is a modern-day commune. Rather than boarding a plane for college, 19-year-old Berie leaves her home in Durham, N.C., and meets an alluring man named Bay at an Asheville, N.C., bus stop. He invites her into the Ash family fold, where he tells her she can stay "three days, or the rest of your life" on their co-op farm tucked away in the mountains. The Ash family follows a hypnotic and powerful leader called Dice, who engages in violent "actions" against developers who will harm the natural world. Dice dubs Berie "Harmony," and she begins the hardworking life of living off the grid and rejecting everything outside the family as a "fake world." Berie cuts off her mother and ex-boyfriend, believing that she has found a place where she belongs, but as much as she struggles for trust and acceptance—and craves intimacy with Bay—she makes mistakes and pays the price. She also learns that the family can be a threat to those who go astray. Dektar's eloquent, often poetic prose draws readers into this disturbing, powerful novel. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Associates. (Apr.)