The Story of a Marriage
Julie Harmon is an unusual woman. She works hard - hard as a man, people say - so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her. They're weak and there's so much to do; they need her to slaughter the hogs and nurse the sick.
Julie is just a teenager when her little brother dies in her arms. That same year she marries Hank and moves down to Gap Creek, where fire and visions visit themselves upon her, and where con men and drunks come calling.
This novel visits the vivid world of the Appalachian high country to follow Julie and Hank in their new life at Gap Creek and their efforts to make sense of the world in the last years of the nineteenth century. Scratching out a life for themselves, always at risk of losing it all, Julie and Hank don't know what to fear most - the floods, or the flesh-and-blood grifters who insinuate themselves into their new life.
The modern world is a complex place, grinding ever on without pause or concern for their hard work. To survive, they must discover whether their love is strong enough to keep chaos and madness at bay.
