The Witches on the Road Tonight

Description:

On the eve of World War II, eight-year-old Eddie Alley lies in bed watching his first horror movie, hand-cranked and flickering on the bare wall of a backwoods cabin. In 2011, Eddie's daughter, Wallis, an anchorwoman for a twenty-four hour news channel, lies in bed with a stranger, spinning ghost stories. Between these two nights winds the story of the Alley family – Eddie's mother, Cora, an Appalachian mountain witch who slips out of her skin after nightfall; Captain Casket, Eddie's alter ego, a campy 1970's TV horror-movie host; and Jasper, the orphaned boy Eddie brings home, who is determined to destroy Eddie's illusions even if it means destroying himself.

subjects: denial,  witchcraft,  sexuality,  horror movies,  CNN,  TV host,  Country life,  Television personalities,  Mothers and sons,  Homeless persons,  Fiction,  Fiction, ghost,  Virginia, fiction,  New York Times reviewed,  Mothers and sons, fiction,  New york (n.y.), fiction,  Fiction, occult & supernatural,  Mother-son relationship

Places: Appalachia,  New York City,  Virginia

Times: Depression,  contemporary