The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains—but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.
This was another just "OK" read for me. I found the story to be interesting, in fact while reading it I felt it had a bit of a "There Will Be Blood" (movie) feel to it, but the two main characters were just so unlikeable that it really turned me off. I found most of the characters to be very one dimensional, with really only one that seemed to be fully developed and it was her character that kept me interested enough to finish the book. As I mentioned the story was interesting, but was often bogged down with boring passages about politics and land rights, so ya, Just an OK read for me...
