"The Ballad of the Wayfaring Stranger and the Dead Man’s Whore” is a darkly lyrical original folk tale. More than an any-day ghost story, “Ballad” rambles through the tangled woods of Appalachia, quick-strumming a tale of haints, of bleak hope, and of one soul’s shadowy path to empowerment. Eerily evocative imagery snakes like tendrils of kudzu through a songlike narrative, closing on a chilling refrain that will haunt readers for days to come.- Ari Michaels
