“A sweet, revealing tale of family, friendship [and] long-held secrets” set in West Virginia—from the acclaimed author of The Sometimes Daughter (Kris Radish).
When seven-year-old Bethany meets her six-year-old cousin, Reana Mae, it’s the beginning of a kinship of misfits that saves both from a bone-deep loneliness. Every summer, Bethany and her family leave Indianapolis for West Virginia’s Coal River Valley. For Bethany’s mother, the trips are a reminder of the coal mines and grinding poverty of her childhood—a place she had hoped to escape. Still, her loving relatives, and Bethany’s friendship with Reana Mae, keep them coming back.
But as Bethany grows older, she realizes that life in this small, close-knit community is not as simple as she once thought. The riverside cabins that hold so much of her family’s history also teem with scandalous whispers and harbor unimaginable secrets. Amid the dense woods and quiet beauty of the valley, the past is about to come to light at last, with a force devastating enough to shatter lives, faith, and the bond that Bethany once thought would last forever . . .
“A strong debut . . . The characters are wonderfully drawn.” —Publishers Weekly
“A touching examination of all the different kinds of love: between friends, between sisters, and above all, for one’s family.” —T. Greenwood, author of Two Rivers
“From the first sentence, the voice of the narrator, Bethany, rings true and never falters. By the end of the book, I cared for every aunt and cousin, mother and sister, even the most troubled and dangerous.” —Drusilla Campbell, author of The Good Sister
