Summer Blink Book Review: “That Which Binds Us” by Cathy Rigg
June 26, 2025
By Reba Hull Campbell
When traveling light, I still indulge in the luxury of carrying a hard copy book with me. For a recent vacation trip, I chose Cathy Rigg’s just-released “That Which Binds Us.” Cathy is a Columbia-based, first-time author with roots in the Virginia mountains.
The book weaves a story around five beautifully written characters living through the horrors of the Civil War in southwest Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains.
I will admit that historical fiction isn’t usually my top reading genre choice. But between the fact I know Cathy and her talent, plus I’d just gotten my signed copy at her book launch party, I couldn’t wait to get started.
From the first chapter (which Cathy read aloud at the book launch event), the writing kept me engaged with the characters’ individual narratives that she skillfully connects through their intersecting stories.
What really brought this book alive for me is the dialects, the spoken cadence and the language that Cathy hones to perfection. Each chapter is written in the voice of a different character that honors that character’s role in the story.
Too often writers make attempts at dialects and stilted language that miss the mark for any number of reasons. But Cathy’s writing expertly captures these characters’ voices and ignites a reader’s imagination in the best possible way. She truly writes from inside the heart and the heads of each character.
The book centers around Elizabeth Young, a fierce young woman with dreams far bigger than she dare dream possible beyond the mountains that hem her in. As with all the book’s characters, Cathy brings Elizabeth’s experiences to life through the perfectly descriptive written word.
I could visualize Elizabeth’s father’s face when it “dropped like a little flower gone too long without water.”
I could feel the agony in Elizabeth’s heart when she looked ahead to a bleak future as a young widow after the war. Elizabeth lamented, “The future was patient, I’ll give her that. She sat off to the side and waited. We moved through our days washed out and gray while tomorrow watched, quiet and confident.”
Many times, I forgot the story was set over 160 years ago. Tales of political upheaval, mistrust of government and challenging economic times hauntingly parallel today’s world in many ways. The novel’s timeless themes of intergenerational secrets, family bonds, wanderlust, love, and deception combine with historical context for an un-put-downable read.
I enjoyed many hours of reading pleasure during my trip when I often slipped off in the afternoons to find a quiet spot to absorb a few pages. This was one of those books that I couldn’t wait to finish but, at the same time, didn’t want it to end.
But when it did end, I still got to enjoy the detailed Author’s Notes where Cathy writes of her meticulous historical and geographical research around the Civil War. It’s clear the joy she got from every step of writing this book that pays homage to the people, the land and the legacy of her own heritage.
In 2022, Reba Campbell set out to get off the screens and back to books for the summer. Her accountability was writing short Blink Book Reviews (so short you can read them in a blink). The series is back for the fourth summer. Join Blink Book Review Facebook group to follow along for the 2025 summer series.