The Fabled Earth
A Novel
Published on 23. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-4002-3428-8 (ISBN)
Description
Sometimes the truth is found in a folktale.
1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year's party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America's finest families who come to experience the area's hunting beside a local guide, a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week's end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.
1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend--and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she's raised a ghost--someone who hasn't been seen since that fateful night in 1932.
Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide in this sweeping story inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island when a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape. Faced with a changing world, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect where a folktale meets the truth to reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along.
Historical women's fiction
Stand-alone novel
Book length: approximately 120,000 words
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year's party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America's finest families who come to experience the area's hunting beside a local guide, a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week's end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.
1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend--and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she's raised a ghost--someone who hasn't been seen since that fateful night in 1932.
Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide in this sweeping story inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island when a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape. Faced with a changing world, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect where a folktale meets the truth to reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along.
Historical women's fiction
Stand-alone novel
Book length: approximately 120,000 words
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Reviews / Votes
'Brock (THE LOST BOOK OF ELEANOR DARE, 2022) proves marvelously adept at intertwining mythic stories and contemporary reality and showing how people reconcile the two . . . Brock's lush, multilayered writing begs to be read slowly as she gently unfolds the mysteries of this picturesque yet haunted Southern landscape, where once-elegant Carnegie mansions still stand. An ideal choice for admirers of Delia Owens, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Sarah Addison Allen.' * Booklist * 'Brock has equal parts respect and distaste for the ways of the past, but her female characters are so distinctive and alive that readers will feel like they're fully living inside these pages. . . You will be breathless by the end . . . and the resounding drama of it all will haunt you long after the book has been closed.' * Bookreporter.com * 'Kimberly Brock's THE FABLED EARTH is a brilliantly layered, unforgettable story of memory, myth, and found family. Off the coast of Georgia, on Cumberland Island, three separate women search for belonging in the wake of incomprehensible loss. Weaving a stunning Southern landscape, Gilded Age glamour, and the societal turmoil of the late 1950s, Brock takes readers on an epic journey that conjures the longing of forgotten youth while simultaneously reminding us of its dangers. I have never read a novel where the author's love of storytelling shines more brightly than this one.' * Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT * 'THE FABLED EARTH follows three women in 1952 who are trying to escape the ghosts of their pasts. Set in dual historical timelines, the novel flashes back to 1932 where the wild beauty of Cumberland Island is juxtaposed against the encroaching opulent wealth of the families of the Gilded Age. Soon, these two worlds collide tragically with the burning of Thomas Carnegie's Dungeness Mansion. A magical read full of secrets, the writing is lush and full of lore and mystery. THE FABLED EARTH is as gorgeous, twisty, and tangled as Cumberland Island itself. Kimberly Brock has established herself as one of the most exciting voices in Southern literature today.' * Constance Sayers, author of THE LADIES OF THE SECRET CIRCUS * 'THE FABLED EARTH is lush and vivid, with passages so beautiful they will break your heart and then turn around and mend it. The lines blur between magic and mystery, pulling you into a dreamy, immersive experience. It's a tour de force of a novel. You can always tell a born storyteller when you read one. And Kimberly Brock is the real deal.' * Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author of OTHER BIRDS * 'With lyrical prose, finely rendered characters, and a dream-like setting, Kimberly Brock's latest is a hauntingly beautiful tale. Brock is a master at crafting deeply moving stories combining Southern folklore, history and legend. THE FABLED EARTH is a must-read for those of us who love to be transported to another place and time and find companionship and comfort between the pages of a book.' * Yvette Manessis Corporon, Senior Supervising Producer, EXTRA, and internationally bestselling author *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Focus
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
413 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4002-3428-8 (9781400234288)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Kimberly Brock is the award-winning author of The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare and The River Witch. She is the founder of Tinderbox Writers Workshop and has served as a guest lecturer for many regional and national writing workshops including at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. She lives near Atlanta with her husband and three children. Visit her online at kimberlybrockbooks.com; Instagram: @kimberlydbrock; Facebook: @kimberlybrockauthor; X: @kimberlydbrock