Caroline George’s latest release, Curses and Other Buried Things, is a haunting tale that takes readers into the depths of the Okefenokee Swamp, bewitching them until the last page.
With her exceptional storytelling, Caroline George skillfully blends dark YA with thrilling suspense and rich folklore in Curses and Other Buried Things. Through her masterful narrative, this thought-provoking novel explores the power of words, the weight of generational curses, and the journey toward breaking free from the shackles of our past.
“Blood holds all kinds of curses.” ~ Caroline George
Synopsis: Seven generations of women in Susana Prather’s family have been lost to the Georgia swamp behind her house. The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she awakens soaked with water, with no memory of sleepwalking. No matter how she tries to stop it, she’s pulled from her safe bed night after night, haunted by her own family history and legacy. Now, the truth feels unavoidable: it’s only a matter of time before she loses her mind and the swamp becomes her grave.
Unless she can figure out how to break the curse.
When she isn’t sleepwalking, she’s dreaming of her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Suzanna Yawn, who set the curse in motion in 1855. Her ancestor’s life bears such similarity to her own that it might hold the key she seeks. Or it might only foretell tragedy.
As Susana seeks solutions in the past and the present, family members hold secrets tighter to their chests, friends grow distant, and old flames threaten to sputter and die. But Susana has something no one else has been able to seize: the unflagging belief that all curses can be broken and that love can help a new future begin.
“What if the past has bled into the present? What if my life is nothing more than Suzanna’s story reimagined? I need the water’s relief.” ~ Caroline George
While curses typically bring witches and magic to mind, this novel cleverly explores how curses are used in our everyday language. As it says in James 3:9-10, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.”
I’ll be honest; it took me time to understand the meaning behind Curses and Other Buried Things. I was so focused on Susanna’s curse and sleepwalking that I failed to grasp the impactful, real-life lessons and issues written within the story until I reached the author’s note. Caroline George’s words explaining her motivation to write this novel hit me like a punch in the gut, causing me to return to the beginning to re-analyze the characters through a brighter lens. It’s so easy to get lost in the words on a page, but the spaces between the lines often speak the loudest… if we let them.
“Everyone has their curses, Susana, except not all of us get the chance to break them.” ~ Caroline George
Written in a dual timeline, Curses and Other Buried Things seamlessly transitions between Susana Prather’s present-day struggles and the life of her ancestor, Suzanna Yawn, in the 1800s. Reinforcing the central theme of forging a brighter future without allowing fear to withhold you from the people you love, the characters brought these elements to life with their growth, strength, and love. Watching Susana transform into a young woman was a rewarding experience. As she confronted the past, tested the boundaries, and fell in love, I got to witness the power of reliving our family’s history but not letting our ancestors’ mistakes affect the outcome of our lives.
Masterfully unraveling her own family’s history in the backdrop of this novel, Caroline George’s personal experiences added to her fantastic writing as she captured the essence of the setting. I could hear the characters’ southern twang in my ears as they spoke and feel the humid air on my brow as I followed the protagonists in their fight for freedom.
“He gazed at her as though she was more than curses and war.” ~ Caroline George
Curses and Other Buried Things is so much more than a dark YA novel; it’s a profound reminder that the past does not define you, nor does your bloodline. I love what Caroline George declared at the end of her author’s note, “I will not continue the cycle. I am not defined by my generational curses and trauma, not the pain, addiction, neglect, abandonment, and so on. I forgive the past, but I will not live there. I choose freedom, and so can you.”
Freedom is within reach; will you take hold of it?
*Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with a pre-release copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.*
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My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Positive content: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Godly content: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Language: ⭐️
Sexual content: ⭐️⭐️
Violence: ⭐️⭐️
Age: 15+
Caroline George is the QUEEN of one-liners! I highlight so many quotes when I read her books and wanted to share my favorites from Curses and Other Buried Things (There are many, hehe)!
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- “Blood holds all kinds of curses.” ~ Caroline George
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- “The swamp won’t take me like it took Mama. I want to believe I believe it.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Life is what you make it. But not everybody receives the same material.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Other people dream about their futures. I dream about the curses in my blood.” ~ Caroline George
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- “The belief in safe places began as a fairy tale, yet over time it grew into a religion for the Yawn family.” ~ Caroline George
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- He cared for her—that Suzanna knew for certain—but so much of his life was cloaked in myth, his truth got lost in the legend that was Obediah Owens.”” ~ Caroline George
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- “History was not so easily buried.” ~ Caroline George
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- “I relax against his chest. Warmth leaps from his clothes onto me. For as long as I can remember, he’s been my bonfire, where I go to escape my cold.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Peace is an hourglass dripping toward empty.” ~ Caroline George
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- “I do everything in my power to bat away the swamp’s fingers. It won’t take me—I won’t let it.” ~ Caroline George
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- “His love was muddy water masquerading as sweet tea.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Baggage is called baggage for a reason. If a person doesn’t unpack and deal with their problems, they’ll carry the problems from place to place.” ~ Caroline George
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- “I’ve learned change is a road. If people don’t walk it together, they drift apart.” ~ Caroline George
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- “He gazed at her as though she was more than curses and war.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Everyone has their curses, Susana, except not all of us get the chance to break them.” ~ Caroline George
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- “What if the past has bled into the present? What if my life is nothing more than Suzanna’s story reimagined? I need the water’s relief.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Darlin’, we might be a story now, but one day, you and me, we’ll be folklore.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Attraction burns softly, I think. Maybe we don’t always see the flames, but we notice the smoke.” ~ Caroline George
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- “I’m not leaving.” “Why?” “Because you’re worth the dang front porch!” ~ Caroline George
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- “Cursed people curse other people.” “But free people free other people.” ~ Caroline George
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- “All this time, I think the fear of becoming someone else has prevented me from becoming myself.” ~ Caroline George
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- “Buried things are dangerous things. Secrets and silence give the curse power.” ~ Caroline George
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- “His voice is a bass and banjo. His laugh is a fiddle. Everything about him is music, and I love the melody he makes.” ~ Caroline George
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- “If nobody has told you before, I want to say it now. You decide the life you want. The past doesn’t define you, nor does your bloodline. You don’t have to carry around your curses.” ~ Caroline George
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- “I will not continue the cycle. I am not defined by my generational curses and trauma, not the pain, addiction, neglect, abandonment, and so on. I forgive the past, but I will not live there. I choose freedom and so can you.” ~ Caroline George
