Near Mars Hill, there is a cove whose darkness and isolation seem to curse its inhabitants. For Laurel Shelton, a young girl living in the cove with a brother who just returned from World War I, this curse marks her as a witch. When Laurel nurses a traveling musician back to health, she dreams of following him to New York, and for a short time, it seems that Laurel will attain happiness and break the curse. But the truth of her lover’s identity and the fervor of WWI whip a young Army recruiter into a frenzy, and the ensuing violence traps Laurel and her lover in a web of misguided patriotism that even love cannot endure.
As readers have come to expect, Rash marries a tightly plotted story with lyrical stylings that evoke the character of an old-time Appalachia that has mostly disappeared. The Cove is a quieter book than his previous novel Serena, less sweeping in its scope. This is not a failing, however, as The Cove chooses focus over epic portrayal, and the effect is a moving story of hope and love crossed with the superstitions of the time. The Cove may make the reader question whether we have left such old-world beliefs behind and whether love really does conquer all.
In the end, Rash, like any good writer, offers no answers. What he gives is a good story, wrought with nuanced skill and grace, as he lets the reader make of it what she pleases.
Ecco. 2012, 255 pages, hardback, $26.99.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
