"Set in a small coal-mining town, a debut novel full of secrets, love, betrayal, and suspicious accidents, where Catholicism casts a long shadow and two courageous women make choices that will challenge ... moral convictions"--Amazon.com. Welcome to Verra, a town nestled into the hillsides of West Virginia. Myrthen is playing tug-of-war with her twin, when her sister is killed. Unable to accept her own guilt, Myrthen excludes herself from all forms of friendship and affection and begins a twisted, haunted life dedicated to God. Meanwhile, her neighbor Alta Krol longs to be an artist even as her days are taken up caring for her widowed father and siblings. Everything changes when Myrthen marries the man Alta loves. Fourteen years later, as Verra's long-buried secrets are exposed, it's an irresistible state of affairs for Myrthen and her obsession with salvation.… (more)