On the Savage Side, Tiffany McDaniel
‘The novel ripples with unease as bodies begin to be found washed up on the river.’
Inspired by the unsolved murders of the ‘Chillicothe Six’, On the Savage Side is the haunting story of twin sisters Arc and Daffy. We follow the sisters from their childhood as they roam wild, lost in their imaginations, to their adulthood, where they are propelled into a world dominated by men. Growing up in a community rife with abuse, addiction, and violence, the girls must try to break free of the generational trauma that threatens to engulf them. It is this powerful sibling relationship and sense of sisterhood that is at the heart of this story.
The novel ripples with unease as bodies begin to be found washed up on the river. The river in all her savage beauty gives the novel a mythical and poetic quality: ‘The river has no arms or hands of her own, she feels with her water.’ Throughout the novel, McDaniel cleverly treads the line between beauty and violence, love, and trauma; the river feels very reflective of this – it’s both a place of sanctuary and danger.
It would feel wrong to describe this book as enjoyable as it is often uncomfortable to read. The depictions of drug addiction, motherhood, poverty, and sexual violence are laid bare on the pages. And yet, for me, it is a love story, a love story between Arc and her sister Daffy, but also a love story between all the women and their shared experiences. McDaniel gives a voice to these lost women when everyone else has ceased to remember them. Towards the end of the novel, one of the characters says to Arc that life is ‘a beautiful war’ and I think that sums up this novel perfectly.
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