There’s something bewitching about the Ozark Mountains.
It could be the beauty and grandeur of the rolling hills covered in trees of every color. The hiking trails that wind through them. It could also be the history seeped in folklore and ghost stories told around campfires.
For writer and Chandler native Ginny Myers Sain, it was all of this and her deep personal connection to the Arkansas Ozarks that led her to set her fourth book, “When the Bones Sing,” there.
“I’ve always wanted to sort of tell an Ozark story,” she said, after recounting her time there.
Sain went to the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville after graduating from Chandler High School. She then stayed and worked there for the next 20 years, teaching and directing theatre, doing what she called something like an AP college prep theatre. She said that at this point, she’s lived there longer than she had been in Chandler, so “it always sort of feels like home.”
“The Ozarks, they have such a rich history of storytelling and folklore and magic and mystery. But there’s so much good stuff in those hills. And such a rich storytelling tradition that it just seemed like the perfect place to set a story like that,” she said.
“When the Bones Sing” is the latest of Sain’s YA mystery/thrillers to be published, coming out on March 4. It centers around 17-year-old Dovie, who lives in Lucifer’s Creek, Arkansas, a town faced with mysterious disappearances over the last 12 years on the local hiking trails. Dovie possesses a unique gift passed down in the women in her family - she can hear the bones of the dead sing. She uses this talent to help the local sheriff locate the bodies of the disappeared.
Folks in town think the hikers are being taken by the mystical Ozark Howler. Dovie doesn’t believe this, nor does she believe her best friend, Lo, is being haunted by dark shadows. However, together, they learn that the truth of these deaths is hidden deep in the hills, and they must find it before someone else is killed.
Sain said talks with her best friend, who grew up and lived in Clarksville, helped her develop Dovie’s gift and her story. They discussed what could be interesting abilities to have and different stories they had heard about the Ozarks. It was then she hit on the idea of being able to sense or hear the bones of the dead and that it had been passed down specifically through the women in her family.
“It’s a book that really explores sort of generational secrets, but also generational strengths. And the things that get passed down through families, whether they’re talents and abilities, like hearing the bones of the dead, or whether they’re generational secrets or mysteries or stories,” Sain said.
She continued that the two favorite parts of the book for her are the setting and the relationship between Dovie and Lo. It’s an important part of the story, and she loves the relationship they’ve developed. She also enjoyed using the local cryptid - the Ozark Howler. She’s used cryptids before. In “Dark and Shallow Lies,” set in the bayous of Louisiana, there’s the Ruguru, a Cajun werewolf. She said readers loved it. So when it came to “When the Bones Sing,” she knew the howler would play a part.
“He’s kind of like a big shaggy, he looks like a bear, but he’s got curling horns like a ram and claws like a tiger, red glowing eyes. I mean, it’s really scary. You know, and the reports of him have been around for years, hundreds and hundreds of years,” she said.
While this is certainly not Sain’s first book, it is her first book tour that is bringing her back to her hometown. On March 12, she’s holding a book signing and meet and greet at the Chandler Public Library. Sain said she hasn’t been back in many years - since her mother, writer and former Chandler teacher Anna Myers, moved away. She said she’s looking forward to it.
As for what’s next, Sain said she’s signed a book deal with Penguin for two more books, with the next being set in Oklahoma.
“When the Bones Sing” is now available in bookstores online and in person. Her Chandler book signing will start at 5:30 p.m. at the Chandler library on March 12. There will be books available for purchase at the event.
To follow Ginny Myers Sain, find her on Instagram (@ginnymyerssain) or on her website, www.ginnymyerssain.com.