WILD MOUNTAIN IVY

Since catching Covid-19 two months ago, 12-year-old violinist Ivy Presnell has developed long Covid.

When her doctor advises a change of scenery, Ivy and her mother head to the Everly House, the bed-and-breakfast in the Blue Ridge Mountains run by her Uncle Cam and his husband, Steve. There, Ivy discovers that the house was once a tuberculosis sanatorium. A spirited girl named Jessie, the hero of Hitchcock’s The Ballad of Jessie Pearl (2013), was one of the sanatorium patients in the 1920s. In Ivy’s dreams, the two girls connect. Jessie’s ghostly presence shares the story of her life, while Ivy adjusts to being ill and no longer able to do many things she enjoys. She discovers the pleasures of a slower pace, learns the dulcimer, writes lyrics, and endeavors to discover all she can about Jessie. Hitchcock has written a love letter to the Asheville area: Ivy’s summer home is filled with culture and vitality, from the beauty of nature to folk music and the legacy of strong women. The girls’ connection across time via their shared struggles with chronic illness is intriguing, but Ivy’s experience with long Covid at times feels superficial and didactic. Her stress over her parents’ difficult marriage and her traveling musician father’s frequent absences are more strongly portrayed. The main characters are cued white. Some background characters of color are less well-developed and unfortunately evoke stereotypes.

A gentle but uneven story of healing in an idyllic setting.