The Great Wherever, by Shannon Sanders

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 This is my first experience reading anything by this author, and I was pleased with her style. Her characters were mostly likeable and their motives and dialogue seem believable and natural. 

This novel contains more than one story. It is a family saga, a historical novel, and a bit of a mysterious ghost story. The reader learns more about the ghostly narrator as the stories unfold. 

 Aubrey Lamb, a young woman who seems to have her hands full, emotionally and vocationally, is introduced to us by an unnamed, ghostly narrator. Aubrey's life is depicted in a way that I found to be quite engaging.  When Aubrey begins to get emails from relatives she was barely aware of, talking about a land inheritance in Tennessee, she embarks on a bit of an odyssey that will educate her about her roots and change her life.

The history of the African American Lamb family, from the time Thomas Lamb first bought this farm and built his house, is fascinating. Thomas was resourceful, hard-working, and talented, both with his hands and with common sense. He made excellent decisions.

The family's relationship with the original landowners and neighbors, the white, wealthy Lanyers, is expectedly storied and tense. Thomas's children lived lives that went separate ways, but they all had deep feelings about their parents and this land. This was their family's shared wealth, their meeting place, and their childhood memories. 

The way in which this farm gets handed down, and the very different personalities involved, is the main conflict in this story.  Aubrey, a great-grandchild of Thomas Lamb, has more financial woes than connection to this farm, but her cousins are determined not to let their land go back to the Lanyers. Meanwhile, four ancestors' spirits are letting us in on all the family's secrets, and trying to think of a way to sway Aubrey's mind. 

I adored the way this book was written, and I thought the ending was perfect. Many thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for the opportunity to read and review this book. I will certainly read Shannon Sanders's work again in the future. 



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