The Cove

The cliff loomed over her and though her eyes were cast downwards she felt its presence. Even inside the cabin she could feel it, as though the cliff’s shadow was so dense it soaked through the wood. Nothing but shadow land, her mother had told Laurel, and claimed there wasn’t a gloomier place in the whole Blue Ridge.

Siblings Laurel and Hank Shelton live in the cove, fruitless farmland nestled in perpetual shadow, land locals say is cursed.

Hank has returned an amputee from World War I. He soon falls in love but his new bride refuses to live in the cove. Hank must choose between his bride and abandoning his socially outcast sister in the loneliest place imaginable.

Laurel’s fate is altered forever when she discovers an injured man on their land. The stranger slowly heals and insinuates himself in to life in the cove—bringing Laurel happiness, even love.

But when Laurel stumbles on the stranger’s true identity, she realises they are in real danger, beyond any kind of mythical curse. And the ramifications are breathtaking.

This atmospheric novel set in Appalachia during World War I, is both beautiful and dark, full of love, betrayal and fear.

Listen to John Bartlett’s interview with Ron Rash, recorded at the Adelaide Writers' Week, 2012.

Watch Ron Rash talk about writing historical fiction, in a panel discussion with Kate Grenville, Javier Cercas and Jenny Erpenbeck at Adelaide Writers Week, courtesy of ABC’s Big Ideas program.

Praise for The Cove:

‘This novel confirms Rash’s status as a master of that dark regional tradition that has distinguished American fiction since Mark Twain.’

Weekend Australian

‘Cormac McCarthy has made a good living, hardearned and richly deserved, out of his mordant, bewildered, sceptical take on American history. Ron Rash may not enjoy the same popularity (yet). but he does demonstrate, repeatedly, a comparable force of expression, a remarkable depth of feeling and most of all a deep and abiding sense of tragedy.’

Canberra Times

‘Few writers do dark American gothic as capably as Rash.’

Qantas: The Australian Way

‘Rash writes with brutal honesty about the difficulty of a life spent in constant battle with the land and the seasons, the petty cruelties we inflict upon each other and the injustices of a seemingly indifferent fate. But he also celebrates the goodness of people, the small kindness that sustain us, and the moments of pleasure in the natural world.'

Otago Daily Times

‘A tragic, evocative tale, in which history, nature and the gothic blend seamlessly.’

Sun Herald

‘The Cove is in some ways Steinbeck-esque, with tough characters enduring grinding poverty and living in the shadow of inflexible community values. This is a beautiful, dark story, crafted with painful honesty and an eye on crafting and atmosphere the reader can see, hear and taste.’

Courier Mail

‘The greatest pleasure in it for me was the clear, rather mannered cadence of the prose and the author’s fine ear for the speech rhythms of the rural South.’

Ursula Le Guin, The Guardian

‘The language is ideally pitched to the narrative…it is a nuanced American tragedy, vividly and traditionally executed with deceptive grace. Rash draws on the darkest elements of the fairy tale and the devices of light and shadow, romance and vengeance, while refraining from the stock sexualisation introduced by many contemporary writers…The closing comments, uttered by a devastated old friend, achieve a Shakespearean resonance. This very fine, dignified, almost stately novel speaks from another time and does so with rare conviction.’

Irish Times

‘Ron Rash’s novels One Foot in Eden, Serena and the story collection Burning Bright, recently published in Australia, have quickly established him as one of the most exciting American writers at work. With each of these books, Rash has continued to delve deeper into the land and history of his North Carolina. The result, already, is reminiscent of the way the neglected master John Ehle mines a similar corner of Appalachian North Carolina, or the breadth of Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, or even the sweeping history of Australia that David Malouf has given us…He has written a powerful novel whose historical setting speaks volumes about the present. Like its setting and the life of its inhabitants, The Cove unfolds in an eerie key. With each new chapter, the intensity builds until it ultimately maintains the momentum of a thriller and the atmosphere of Southern gothic noir. First and foremost, Rash is a great storyteller. He writes scenes that are cinematic but whose emotional and psychological depths would be lost on the screen.’ Read the full review here.

Sydney Morning Herald

‘If Ron Rash isn’t the most affecting writer in America, he can’t be far from it. In exquisite novels such as One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River and The World Made Straight, Rash casts his local’s eye over the people, places and cultural nuances of his beloved Appalachia to create works of searing beauty and sometimes great sadness. As a writer, Rash is a man of few words. However, those he chooses are evocative, elegant and, like the eyes of a portrait that follow you around the room, they stay with you. His latest novel, The Cove, is no exception, a moving tale set on a struggling farm that seems almost to cower in the gloom beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains…Previously, Ron Rash’s spare yet aware prose has been favourably compared to John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy. That’s the highest of praise and he deserves similar acclaim here, because The Cove is a a work of intelligence, emotion and, most importantly, sublime storytelling.’

Gold Coast Bulletin