Shadows of Pecan Hollow: A Novel

Written by Caroline Frost

Narrated by Alex McKenna

Winner of the Crook's Corner Book Prize, finalist for the Golden Poppy Award, and longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

""This immersive, full-bodied novel will keep its hooks in you long after the last page is read, and marks the arrival of a tremendously wise and talented writer.""—Ben Fountain

Set in 1970-90s Texas, a mesmerizing story about a fierce woman and the partner-in-crime she can’t escape, perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing and Valentine.

It was 1970 when thirteen-year-old runaway Kit Walker was abducted by Manny Romero, a smooth-talking, low-level criminal, who first coddled her and then groomed her into his partner-in-crime. Before long, Kit and Manny were infamous for their string of gas station robberies throughout Texas, making a name for themselves as the Texaco Twosome.

Twenty years after they meet, Kit has scraped together a life for herself and her daughter amongst the pecan trees and muddy creeks of the town of Pecan Hollow, far from Manny. But when he shows up at her doorstep a new man, fresh out of prison, Kit is forced to reckon with the shadows of her past. 

A gritty, penetrating, and unexpectedly tender novel, Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hauntingly intimate and distinctly original debut about the complexity of love—both romantic and familial—and the bonds that define us. 

“Paper Moon meets Badlands in this mesmerizing Texas backroads thriller, a twisty story of a runaway girl who finds a home and a desperate love on the road with an opportunistic criminal.”—Janet Fitch

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063065376

Caroline Frost

Caroline Frost has a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California. She is the author of Shadows of Pecan Hollow, which won the Crook’s Corner Prize, was a finalist for the Golden Poppy Award, and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She currently resides in Pasadena, California, with her husband and three small children, but her roots in Texas run deep.

Reviews for Shadows of Pecan Hollow

[Brenda Shealey Steele · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thank you! Full of real life situations. An excellent boon! So surprised about Manny

[Kristi Hatton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great story, but struggled with narration. It was an interesting reflection of the tone the main character would have…Just hard to listen to.

[Sara Workman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shadows of Pecan Hollow; this book……honestly I am not even sure where to start with this one. Being one of the harder books I’ve read, it took me a while to figure out how I wanted to review it, and I think I finally have all my thoughts in order.

Y’all Frost’s debut novel is complex!! It’s violent and unsettling, full of manipulation, and flawed characters that pull you in immediately. Shadows is heartfelt and raw, littered with hard to read scenes, lots of gray areas, and things that make me uncomfortable; and yet it was impossible to put down. With that being said, it is infused with love, healing, and self discovery. Finding your place and your people. You’ll find yourself rooting for specific characters and falling in love with the supporting side characters.

“I think we take the good with the bad because no one really wants to be alone. People need other people. That’s how it is.”

When Kit was born she was immediately put up for adoption. Over the course of her childhood she bounced from one foster home to another. Never trusting anyone, being so alone and vulnerable, Kit becomes hardened and rough at the young age of 13. She can shut out the world in her mind to the point where she literally feels no pain. Kit finally has enough and decides to run to Pecan Hollow where she has a great aunt. Stopping at a gas station to steal some snacks she spots a car with a bag of fast food on the seat. No owner around she decides to take it….enter Manny.

Manny is a handsome smooth talking low level criminal with bright blue eyes. He offers to take Kit to her great aunt and along the way use her for his numerous swindling schemes. Twenty years her senior Manny gives Kit a sense of security and love she’s never known. All the while grooming her for his wants and needs.

Set in small town Texas with Bonnie and Clyde vibes, Shadows is told between alternating points of view from the 70’s and 90’s. The writing is easy to follow and Frost’s ability to bring to life the Southern Evangelist Texas community was fantastic. From the big hair era, the gossips, Texas drawl, and church going do gooders, Frost nails it!

Manny and Kit fall into a life of petty crime which escalates, making them known as the “Texas Twosome”. After years of being together Kit finds herself pregnant and Manny wants nothing to do with the child. During one of their robberies Manny is arrested and taken to prison. Kit decides then and there to leave Manny and head to Pecan Hollow to find her great aunt and raise her daughter. Flash forward twenty years…Manny is out of prison and lands in Pecan Hollow to find Kit.

I loved Kit’s growth throughout the book. The grit and resilience woven through this story makes it impactful and beautiful. This book will ruffle you. Heads up, there are a couple pretty graphic scenes, one of animal cruelty resulting in death, and another involving an assault on one of the characters.

TW: Abandonment, violence, sexual assault, drug abuse, and emotional abuse. Language, Sexual Content, Child Abuse, Animal Abuse, talk of abortion.

[Kimberly Haney · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story. I lived in that area during the years this story is written and many of the towns and restaurants are alive in my memories. Even the narrator’s absolute slaughter of the East Texas accent didn’t get on my nerves too badly. Gripping all the way to the end.

[Betty Bennett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was a surprise to me. The story was very close to my life experience so I had a tough time with the subject. Too many memories it was well written with good word selection, believable characters

[Ragnhild · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was an uneasy read that made me uncomfortable, but very well written/read and loved the ending of the book.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh, my, the resilience of some people. Kit was abandoned by her mother soon after her birth and Kit spent her childhood in the foster system. When she ran a way from an abusive home life, she is caught trying to steal a takeout bag from a car and she becomes an accomplice of the car’s owner as they rob gas stations. When Manny is arrested at the scene of a bungled burglary, Kit flees. She sets out to look for a great aunt, who accepts her as a daughter and is thrilled Kit is having a baby. But Kit and her daughter, Charlie, have a rough relationship because Kit has such a tough personality, and she doesn’t know how to parent. Pecan Hollow, where Aunt Eleanor lives, is a small east Texas town filled with the usual array of small-town citizen, quick to criticize but also quick to help. When Manny shows up and finds he has a daughter, things become dangerous for Kit and Charlie. At the end, I was so proud of the two who not only had discovered a real mother-daughter relationship but had found a real home in Pecan Hollow.