The Mirk and Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson (review)

When her father goes off to fight in the War between the States, Violet is left to manage the family’s Mississippi farm, which is suddenly host to several new faces, including Violet’s laudanum-addicted stepmother, a snooty stepsister, and two rowdy cousins. A walk in the woods leads to Violet’s discovery of Thomas, a badly injured Union soldier who is being cared for by the VanZeldts, a local free African-American family with rumored ties to hoodoo and magic. Enemies abound as Violet’s house is set ablaze, her cousin suffers several mysterious accidents, and she learns that Thomas is to be used as a sacrifice by the VanZeldts to gain more power. While the plot is packed with significant events, there’s a languid ease to the prose that invites readers to become fully immersed in the sweltering heat of a Mississippi summer, and Nickerson paints a picture of the Southern landscape that is rustic but ethereal and at times, eerie. Violet’s conflicted feelings about the war and slavery are honestly but sensitively depicted: she’s certainly a product of her times, casually tossing about the idea that her father “bought” Laney, her ostensible best friend, but she’s also coming to realize that an institution that regards people as property is in fact morally compromised. Unfortunately, this realization comes with too much helpful reassurance from Laney, and most of the African-American players are reduced to being either wise templates or, as in the case of the VanZeldts, creepy others. The direct correlation to the Tam Lin folktale only shows up in the final chapters, but the blend of fairy tale tropes and the Southern Gothic setting make this a compelling, if somewhat flawed, retelling.