Serena

The year is 1929 and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire.

Serena is new to the mountains— but she soon proves herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband’s life in the wilderness. Yet she soon learns that she will never bear a child.

Serena’s discovery will set in motion a course of events bound to change the lives of everyone in this remote community. As the Pembertons’ intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel, this riveting story of love, passion and revenge moves toward its shocking reckoning.

Praise for Serena:

‘It’s too hypnotic to break away from. The final chapter is as flawless and captivating as anything I’ve read this year.’

Washington Post

‘With bone-chilling aplomb, linguistic grace and the piercing fatalism of an Appalachian ballad, Ron Rash lets the Pembertons’ new union generate ripple after ripple of astonishment.’

New York Times

‘Rash’s evocative rendering of the blighted landscape and the tough characters who inhabit it recalls both John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy.’

New Yorker

‘A spectacular book…The novel serves up plenty of satisfaction for those readers who seek, above all else, a good story.’

Guardian