The Moonshine Women

For readers of Jeannette Walls, Robert Goolrick, and Sue Monk Kidd, three sisters take over their father's Ozark Mountains moonshine business in an evocative, Prohibition-era story of reinvention, sisterhood, revenge, and the alchemy of love from the USA Today bestselling author of The Flower Sisters.

From a well-camouflaged still in the moonshine-slicked mountains of Prohibition-era Missouri, to the drink order of a Hot Springs gangster, and even the hidden depths of her own heart, a Strong woman knows how to keep a secret...

Every batch of Strong moonshine has its own special flavor, thanks to the secret ingredients that matriarch Lidy Strong adds to the barrels of fermenting corn mash. Whether a bucketful of golden peaches, a ripe melon or juicy, jewel-toned berries, that extra "something something" is what makes the Strong "shine" so prized--and allows the family to survive after crop prices plummeted in the wake of the Great War.

Each of the Strong sisters, too, is distinct. The stoic and steadfast eldest, Rebecca, finds more comfort in nature than with people...until she finds a new home in the love she discovers for the woman who restores her health after a near-devastating accident. Middle sister Elsie is kind, beautiful--and itching for a life more thrilling than the farm can offer. And Jace, the bold and wild-hearted youngest, is known far and wide as "Shine," a name that suits her fiery personality and flaming red hair as much as her innate skill with a still.

Their father, Hiram, has been drowning himself in grief and liquor ever since his wife died. But the moonshine business is unforgiving, especially with Prohibition agents turning up in every creek and holler. When tragedy strikes, it falls to the Strong women to keep the still running, the family together, and hope burning on the horizon.

From the Ozark mountains edged in oak and pine, to the outlaw paradise of Hot Springs, Arkansas--where gangsters like Al Capone line the bar at the Southern Club--the sisters' quests for vengeance, healing, and love will drive them forward, in search of a future as transformative and powerful as the purest Strong moonshine.

Author: Michelle Collins Anderson
Publisher: John Scognamiglio Book
Published: 03/31/2026
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.19h x 5.51w x 1.18d
ISBN: 9781496748300


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2025 pg. 7

About the Author
Michelle Collins Anderson is the USA Today bestselling author of The Moonshine Women, an Indie Next Pick, and The Flower Sisters, which was a Missouri Library Association Literary Award winner, the Scenic Regional Library, Washington Public Library & East Central College Community Reads selection, and winner of the "Show Me" Award from the Missouri Writers' Guild. She grew up on a farm in the Missouri Ozarks -- a place and a way of life that has shaped her writing. A graduate of the University of Missouri with a MFA from Warren Wilson College, she previously worked in advertising and public relations, taught elementary school creative writing, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri and Stephens College. She serves on the board of The Missouri Review and her Pushcart Prize-nominated short fiction has appeared in numerous publications. A mother of three, she lives with her family in St. Louis, Missouri and can be found online at MichelleAnderson.me.