Old Wounds to the Heart (Whippoorwill Hollow Book 2)
2016 WINNER International Book Awards & IPPY Awards
Amazon Best-Selling Literary Fiction: Romance: March 2016
The second Whippoorwill Hollow novel
Shenandoah National Park, Thanksgiving Morning, 1967
The morning mists are still rising in Whippoorwill Hollow when two aging friends find themselves staring at each other: one pointing a gun and the other beaten and chained to a tree. Their love for the same woman has buckled under the weight of a long-held secret — until now.
Out of the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia comes a 1960s American tale bound with the regrets people carry to their graves and a tumultuous chance at redemption. Three friends decide if their hearts will lock them into old wounds or lead them to new love.
>>> Secrets, passion, love, and violence
“Secrets, passion, love, and violence: they’re not for the weak of heart or body, which is what makes the septua- and octogenarians in Ken Oder’s latest Whippoorwill Hollow novel so intriguing. The characters are endearing and eccentric, and the setting at once brutal and brooding. I couldn’t put it down, and I can’t wait for the next one.” – Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Best Book Award winning author of the What Doesn’t Kill You romantic mystery series
>>> Thrilling, beautiful literary fiction
“. . . a thrilling experience . . . a work of art, or poetry, or beauty and all of the above. Oder takes you back in time to a place in a rural Virginia town and gently reveals parts and pieces of its topography and people. The story is not a gentle one . . . but it is simply beautiful.” – Rebecca Nolen, author of Deadly Thyme and The Dry
>>> Reveals the symbiosis between joy and heartache
“. . . masterfully crafted, brimming with the sort of spellbinding wisdom that takes your breath away. Cast from characters who could easily be our friends and family, this story confronts the darker side of human nature with unflinching precision. It reveals that the line dividing right from wrong isn’t always clearly defined, that an undeniable symbiosis exists between joy and heartache.” – Daniel Wimberley, author of The Pedestal