In These Hills

by Tamera Alexander

First published 2026

Amazon

2.5(5)

After a women’s suffrage rally in Atlanta turns violent, Josephine Dunham flees to Lynchburg, Tennessee, in 1905. Miss Mary Bobo offers temporary refuge, but the work available to Josephine is at Jack Daniel’s Distillery—an uncomfortable prospect for a suffragist committed to prohibition. Dodge Coburn, who manages Daniel’s cattle farm while raising his niece, doubts Josephine’s account of an abusive husband yet becomes increasingly involved in protecting her.

The novel sets political conviction against the economic and personal complexity of a distilling town, using real figures Jack Daniel and Mary Bobo and an appearance by Susan B. Anthony. Josephine and Dodge must decide whether justice can be pursued without reducing people to causes or enemies. Christian faith shapes the story’s movement from certainty and fear toward wisdom, forgiveness and sacrificial courage.