If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O

Written in grease pencil on a tourist postcard, the lyrics are winsome and innocent. But for famous folk singer Peggy Muryan, who has moved recently to the rural community of Hamelin, Tennessee, they are a chilling reminder of a troubled moment in her past.

©1990 Sharyn McCrumb (P)1993 Recorded Books

The sheriff

I like the fact that they were hitting people in the screw way of telling what happened in 1968. I enjoyed it though.

great book kept me interested to the very end. Sharyn McCrumb is one of my favorites.

Awful, awful narrator

I love Sharyn McCrumb's work. But am finding the narrator's southern accent (fake!!!) terribly difficult to hear. She is using a Deep South accent not one from East Tennessee. As a native of southwestern Virginia and a citizen in TN for 40 years, I know the difference.

An Intriguing Mystery

Intriguing mystery set against the backdrop of Appalachia and memories of the Vietnam war. The twining of folk songs and mountain legends and letters from a Vietnam soldier brings this tale of mystery and suspense to a poignant conclusion of self understanding.

I loved this book!

I loved the story, characters, and narrator. My dad is a Vietnam vet that would never discuss his experience, except with my uncle who was over at the same time as my dad. I do know he was an 18 year old kid sent into full combat, exposed to Agent Orange his entire tour. The experience shaped his early psychological life and has stolen his physical and psychological health in his later years. I felt closer to my dad hearing the experiences of the men and the people that loved them. A conversation between LaDunn (sp?) and Martha really resonated with me. LaDunn described (more eloquently than my description here 😂) how for an entire year they (the soldiers) were never able to relax, scared all of the time, never able to fully sleep, always on alert. Then they are abruptly pulled out and placed back in society to return to the person they were before they left. The author spoke to bravery, respect and tolerance in this one conversation. Bottom line, this is definitely one of my favorites.