This was my first time reading a book from the author but I am delighted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I look forward to reading more books from the writer in the future.

The Caretaker by Ron Rash is a poignant historical fiction novel about love, friendship, family and loyalty.

One of the most beautifully understated stories I've read in a long while. A quiet but powerful tale of loyalty and the power of lies. But the equally powerful strength of integrity and honour. Blackburn is an unlikely hero, but a hero nonetheless. Incredibly moving and totally enthralling, The Caretaker is a book that deserves high praise indeed.

Love in all its forms…

Jacob Hampton is on guard duty. It is a freezing winter night in Korea, and he is cold, scared and alone, detailed to watch for any signs of enemy movement. But Jacob knows from stories of the other men that the enemy can move swiftly and silently through the night, and has no mercy. As he watches he dreams of his life back home in Blowing Rock where his pregnant wife Naomi waits for him. Seventeen-year-old Naomi, a girl from the other side of the tracks, for whom he had defied his parents and given up his expectations to inherit the family shop. Wild Naomi, with no one to care for her in Jacob’s absence but his childhood friend, Blackburn Gant, a young man with a facial disfigurement that has left him isolated and friendless except for Jacob, and subjected to taunts and bullying from the town’s thugs. And then on the edge of his vision, Jacob sees a shadow move…

I’ve had a very mixed reaction to Ron Rash in the past, but this one is why I keep reading him – when he’s on form, he is brilliant. This is a reasonably simple story of love in all its forms and distortions – parental love made ugly by the desire to control, romantic love broken by war, fraternal love between two young men who have grown up to be as close as brothers, platonic love between a man and a woman, lack of love experienced by a man whom society judges by his face rather than his character, unrequited forbidden love, and sacrifices made for love. It’s also about class, American-style, which is based on a combination of money and birth. In Blowing Rock in North Carolina in the ’50s, not much money is needed to set a family above the rest, but those who have climbed the greasy pole look down on those beneath with as much contempt as an aristocrat with a pedigree going back for generations. They are offended by the idea that their child may stoop to marry someone from the gutter out of which they themselves have only recently crawled. And they use the power that their little money gives them to enforce their mean values on those who depend on them.

The crime that is at the heart of the book is not one of murder or theft. It is a breach of faith, a lie, a secret corruption, a hypocrisy. It is crueller than a kick or a knife, and will break several hearts, not least the reader’s. The question is – will the characters learn the truth before it’s too late, and if they do, how will they react? Is there a way out for them or is tragedy the only fate that awaits them? Considering the simplicity of the story, the tension becomes almost unbearable because Rash has made the reader care so deeply about all three major characters, and especially Blackburn. His love and loyalty, the damage that has been done to him because of society’s reaction to his disfigurement, the cruelty he has faced and learned to face down – in a fair world, these things should surely merit him reward. But Blowing Rock is a microcosm of the real world, and fairness is not one of its major attributes.

Scorned by the community at the urging of the Hamptons, Naomi is rebellious and defiant, if not always wise. She can see past Blackburn’s face to his kind and generous heart, and loves him as Jacob does, like a brother. Jacob is the one of the three whose character is weakest. It may be some excuse that he has given up more than they have – he is rather proud of the sacrifice he has made for love. He’s young and strong, smart and hard-working, so he doesn’t need his parents’ help in life, or so he thinks. But then the call-up comes, and he has to leave Naomi alone in a community that they have both treated with contempt and made no attempt to win over. Her pregnancy is a matter of pride to the young couple, but to Jacob’s parents it is a further mark of shame – another link in the chain that holds their precious son enslaved to this unworthy woman.

The small-town Southern setting is evoked brilliantly, showing the poverty of both material wealth and education, and the ethic of hard work that allows people to thrive and even advance sometimes. The cruelties and hypocrisies are lightened a little by the loyalties and kindnesses. The depth of the characterisation is wonderful – not just of our main three, but of all the other characters who play a part in the story. And while I felt that Rash had toned down the poeticism of his language a little in comparison to some of his other books, that works well for me – I always prefer a plainer style. I don’t want to suggest that the writing is anything other than excellent, however – the book could not be so moving if it were otherwise. A great read that is profoundly emotional without ever straying into mawkishness – highly recommended!

📚New Review📚
The Caretaker by Ron Rash

What would you do, if faced with an unimaginable choice?

I had seen endless rave reviews about this compact book all over bookstagram. I actually had no clue what the story or the setting was when I dove into the audiobook. I won’t say much, but set in 1951 in the Appalachian foothills, this story is timeless. A solider returns from war utterly changed and his life before him upside down.

This book is beautifully written. It reminded me of reading Steinbeck in school with its rich descriptions of the land and a focus on ordinary people & their dynamics in rural America. The plot is concise and contains no extraneous details. It has left me pondering all week about the backstories of off screen characters and wondering about the fate of all involved after the story concludes.

I was bowled over by the depictions of living a life affected by polio, grief and physical deformity.

I’ve loved chatting to people in my DMs about the characters and the direction this took, do message me if you want to chat about it! I listened to this on BorrowBox. I had also receiving an advanced copy from the publisher @canongatebooks in exchange for an honest review. If you’re looking for a short and jaw dropping read, this is it.

5⭐️

The Caretaker has been such a beautiful read. So well written and narrated. Simple yet impactful characters. The writing is deep and vivid and has been a joy to read.

"Beneath the moon's brightness, the sole truth of what mattered had been revealed."

Set in 1951 during the Korean War, revolves around a devastating deception triggered by the false report of the son of a wealthy small-town family being wounded and returning home. The son, Jacob, had eloped with Naomi, a hotel maid far from the bride the Hamptons had envisioned for him. Disinherited, Jacob had entrusted his childhood friend, Blackburn, to care for Naomi in his absence. As the due date approaches, Blackburn ensures the couple's farmhouse is prepared, but a misguided act of kindness results in a deception that inflicts profound heartache when a telegram arrives, erroneously informing Naomi of Jacob's return.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if it were in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

The Caretaker by Ron Rash

All Jacob wants is to get home safe. Posted as a guard during the war, all he longs for is to get back to his pregnant wife (Naomi). Love at first sight. He married her against his family’s wishes. Now she depended on him and he needed to get back for her and the baby.

Naomi was judged and scorned by the conservative people in the community but she decides to be herself and wait for Jacob. She writes to him about herself, friends and family.

The Novel revolves around young Blackburn who takes care of the local cemetery and also his best friend’s wife. As an outcast, he relates to Naomi’s predicament. When they receive a tragic news, they have to lean on each other and also time for their loyalty.

The story shows different acts by people in the name of family and love. The lies we tell ourselves to justify whatever we want and how truth always comes out in the end. Beautifully written, the story just flows. I couldn’t stop reading this one!!

“Burying suicides farthest from the church was, rightly to Blackburn, no longer done. Wasn’t life brutal enough to prefer death punishment enough?”

“To my mind, war’s not aching you suddenly get over so much as you slowly work your way around.”

From: The Caretaker by Ron Rash

Well, I stand by the first thing I wrote to @jc_grenn when I finished reading The Caretaker: this is some good old-fashioned storytelling. Its form and plot are pretty straightforward, but the pacing, the dramatic moral dilemmas and dynamic setting with detailed imagery of Appalachian life in the 50s, made this unputdownable.

Jacob, son of the prosperous Hamptons, is disowned when he elopes to marry 16 year old Naomi, an uneducated maid originally from Tennessee. When soon after the marriage Jacob is conscripted to North Korea, he asks Blackburn, his good friend and the (titular) caretaker of the cemetery at the church, to take care of his now pregnant wife. When Jacob get hurt in battle in Korea - a scene that was so well crafted it felt like watching a movie - his parents seize the occasion to set a cruel plan in motion to get their son back.

The dialogues and the characters’ emotions feel authentic. Prejudice and intolerance based on class and disability is harshly evident in the novel’s unfolding events. Good vs bad and the nuance needed to make this a realistic story, is what characterizes Rash’ masterful writing.

This is a perfect read for this fall/winter season. Thanks so much to @cannongate and @netgalley for this eARC.

What an extraordinary book by a sensitive connoisseur of small-town North Carolina and its people who render the mountainous landscape so enchanting. This was the first Ron Rash novel I tried, coming to his books after exhausting the oeuvre of another wonderful North Carolina writer, Nicholas Sparks, and I am so glad I did. The caretaker of the novel by the same title is a literary character by the name of Blackburn Gant, a childhood polio survivor, who lives in the mid-1950s in the beguiling Appalachian landscape and makes a living by maintain the town’s cemetery. His childhood friend is Jacob Hampton, a member of an affluent local family. Jacob’s marriage to Naomi has been opposed by his reputation-conscious parents who have disowned him, and he is conscripted into the US army to fight in the Korean War. When Jacob returns to his home town, he cannot wait to find his pregnant wife and his best friend again but his fiercely overprotective, entitled mother Cora has other plans, and Jacob instead finds himself encased in a web of deceit, threats and blackmail that builds up to a denouement. Beautifully told in subdued literary prose, this is a masterpiece of a novel that lets its characters, and the beguiling North Carolina landscape, speak. A novel that will stay with you long after you have closed its covers. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the free ARC that allowed me to discover this wonderful novel, and to produce this unbiased review.

My first Ron Rash book and definitely not my last!! I adored this book and the characters he created!

Set in the 1950's it centres around a small town and the drama of families. Especially the lengths people go to in getting their own way, at the expense of the heartbreak it causes for others. It's a really quiet novel but packs a real emotional punch as the story develops over the years.

We get a glimpse too at the horrors of war in North Korea as we are with Jacob who is serving for his country and shares what he sees, along with what he's thinking as he's alone. Thinking of those back home is what keeps him going when disaster strikes.

And back home we follow his wife Naomi as she's expecting her first child, we see how his parents cope with all that is going on, and also see things from the character of the Caretaker, Blackburn, who is a wonderful creation. Always looking out for others despite his own problems and heartache.

How the characters interact, and the way that the author uses language made for a really powerful story and it was a really emotional read at times. Each character had their own cross to bear and you really see how that shaped them - sometimes it made them better people, others it made them vengeful and you really got to see the different sides of humanity and how life affects people. A wonderful book!! highly recommended!!

Having never heard of the author before I had no preconceived ideas about what to expect and no idea what a treat I was in for - thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for an arc of this novel.

Rash writes about America and to me there were echoes of Steinbeck and Faulkner, but the writer that most came to mind was Hardy. There is such a strong sense of place and the characters are so profoundly affected by the landscape they inhabit. The relationship between children and parents as well as love triangles also feature heavily.

This is a wonderful and touching book, even though I would have preferred a different ending. Please read it and tell your friends, it is writing that deserves to be recommended.

Such a wonderful book. I enjoyed it so much. And I shed a tear – or two. This heart-breaking novel is set in 1951 against the background of the Korean War. Naomi and Jacob, from a small town in America, have fallen in love and married, against his parents’ wishes. Then Jacob is drafted into the war and the book opens with him being stabbed by a North Korean soldier. He somehow survives and is invalided back home, longing to be with Naomi again. But events work against him and a series of lies and deceptions ensue. That’s all I want to say about the plot as this is definitely a book where the tension needs to creep up on the reader. Beautifully written, excellently paced, with in-depth characterisation and pitch-perfect narration. Storytelling at its best.

Set in small town America in the 1950s this is a book full of prejudices and the effect they can have. Jacob Hampton married the girl he loved, out of towner, Naomi Clarke, against his wealthy parents' wishes. They disinherit him but Jacob and Naomi make their own life and as he is drafted to fight in the Korean war, Naomi is pregnant. He asks his friend, Blackburn Gant to look out for Naomi. Blackburn, disfigured and friendless graveyard caretaker, takes his duty to his only friend seriously. The outcome of war, of Naomi moving back home to have the baby and the actions of Jacob's parents lead to a very sad story, but one of strong friendship and love. I enjoyed this. #netgalley #TheCaretaker

Jacob and Naomi wed against the wishes of his parents and are then quickly separated when he is called up to fight the Korean War. He enlists his friend Gant to look after her. When Jacob returns, his parents seize the opportunity to change the future of the couple. 

Rash writes great small-town drama. The characters are richly drawn and clearly shaped by the perceptions of the other townspeople. Each grapples with a moral decision in the story, influenced by town expectations and histories. .This is a story about duty, loyalty and care in its many forms.

One of my favorite Ron Rash books.

Slow start, great but cruel twist and great end, however I would have liked to hear more about the future

The Caretaker is a little fable-like and reminded me a bit of Steinbeck's work.

It's a story that examines how easily care can become control, especially when mixed with loss, trauma and loneliness.

Jacob's parents are vile and easy to dislike. However, the interesting part of the story comes through in the eponymous caretaker, Blackburn and whether he will fall into the same trap of manipulating and being manipulated.

A quietly tense novel surrounding a small Appalachian community reflecting poverty, small town life and the Korean war.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

This was the first book I read by Ron Rash and found it brilliant. Heartbreaking and compelling, a story about friendship and betrayal. A triangle composed by outcast and moving characters, a small town with all the petty actions and gossips.
Great storytelling and plot development.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is the first book I have read by Ron Rash and after reading The Caretaker I am really looking forward to reading his previous work.

I loved this quiet book, it is incredibly well written and I was swept up in the story from the first chapter.

Set in a small Appalachian town, The Caretaker is a story of friendship, love, betrayal, loyalty and deception. Jacob is the son of this small towns wealthiest family, his parents had his life mapped out , how he would takeover the family business and build a house on their land. However Jacob upends all their plans when he meets Naomi, an outsider who arrives to work as a maid for the season in the towns hotel. Their rapid courtship and elopement is the talk of the town and a horror story for Jacob's parents who disinherit him when they hear of his marriage. Jacob's friend Blackburn is the only person not scandalized by the newly married couple . Jacob is Blackburn's only friend and he leads a quiet life as the caretaker of the local cemetery. When Jacob is conscripted to fight in the Korean War, he entrusts the care of his pregnant new wife to his friend before he leaves. Blackburn and Naomi , shunned by the local community, friendship grows , bound by the love and worry about Jacob . Then a series of devastating events occurs and changes all their lives.

This is a wonderfully told story, it captures so much and the writing is assured and quietly beautiful.. The characters, the vivid descriptions , the emotions ...all captured pitch perfectly and its well paced and hard to leave this world once you are immersed in it. A literary page turner from an incredible storyteller.

Recommend 4.5 stars

The Caretaker is Gant Blackburn, a young man whose face has been disfigured by polio. Bullied at school and stared at and muttered about by the townsfolk, he left school early to take on the job of looking after the cemetery In Blowing Rock NC, living at a cottage next to it where he would encounter few people. His best friend, Jacob Hampton who sees the kind heart beyond Gant’s disfigurement is from a wealthy family, but has been disinherited by his family when he eloped and married 16 year Naomi, an uneducated hotel maid from a poor family. When Jacob is drafted in 1951 to serve in the Korean war, he asks Gant to look out for Naomi, who is expecting their child.

This is a beautifully written tale of love, loss and the power of friendship. When Jacob is badly injured in Korea and sent home, his parents form an evil and despicable plot to keep him and Naomi apart. It’s a very moving story with characters we can really feel for. Gant’s big heart and his love for both Jacob and Naomi will test him as he grapples with what he learns and which path he should choose. The setting of a small town in 1950s Appalachia is well done with the cemetery forming a central place where Gant cares for the dead. A short but beautifully formed, emotional read that many readers will love.