Mountain Mulekick is about the Great Smoky Mountains’ past, written by Catherine Astl. Astl did thorough research in creating this book and you can really tell because her vivid storytelling brings to life the characters of Cades Cove and Chestnut Flats. As I flipped through the pages of this historical fiction novel, I was practically transported to the time of the book, when rugged individualism clashed with societal norms, and the spirit of freedom flowed through every mountain ridge.
Astl’s work was special to me because she was able to capture the essence of the times while exploring the characters as well as humanity. Through richly drawn characters, you as a reader are made to ponder the complexities of morality and the consequences of choices made in the pursuit of freedom. Mountain Mulekick is an awesome exploration of the legacy of the Appalachian way of life. This book will linger in your thoughts long after you’ve finished it. This is a must-read for everyone out there who has a thirst for adventure.
Mountain Mulekick
“Taste it, and man, you got yourself a mulekick. Gets ya just like a mule kickin’ you when you’re loadin’ him up.”
“The vices of humans have a wonderful flavor to them, but also a violent and sad bitterness that can never be washed away.”
Cades Cove is known to millions as a beautiful mountain valley tucked within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But before its eventual inclusion in the park’s opening in 1937, this stunning place saw a successful and industrious society for 119 years. And in its southwest corner, a suburb cropped up called Chestnut Flats, whose legacy of moonshine and illicit activities would steer the two communities through decades of conflicting ideals, each having vastly different interpretations of the American spirit of freedom.
Moonshine has a way of tugging at people’s emotions. Some say it’s evil, some sympathize with the idea of doing what one wants on one’s own land. Some say it’s good and even patriotic to rail against the government’s taxation; some say it’s wicked and wrong. Which is it then? Within the pages of Mountain Mulekick, readers are tasked with the heavy choice between the pull of peaceful and orderly freedom and the equally inspirational glamour of free will; the same choices that faced the people of Cades Cove and Chestnut Flats so long ago.
Exhaustively researched and expertly written, all people and major events are true, with historical facts and exact quotes taken from some of the best sources, some from the very memoirs of the people themselves.
Just as Oliver’s Crossing and Gatlin’s Gateway invited you to pull up a chair and stay awhile, Mountain Mulekick keeps you there, urging you to “stop and look around for a bit…lie back on the earth and its soft ridges will fill you with their memories. You will feel it most when the sun hides for another day and the moon nudges itself in for a closer look.
Purchase Mountain Mulekick
Catherine Astl is the bestselling author of Smoky Mountain Historical Fiction: Oliver’s Crossing, Gatlin’s Gateway, Mountain Mulekick, and more to come!
You can find Catherine on the following platforms:
