Signed First Edition

The award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Serena captures the wondrous beauty of nature and love and the darkness of superstition and fear in this atmospheric and exquisitely rendered novel set in Appalachia during World War I

“Ron Rash is a writer of both the darkly beautiful and the sadly true; The Cove solidifies his reputation as one of our very finest novelists.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
 
"I wish the whole world spoke the way Ron Rash's characters do. Read him for his poetry and great humanity. Just read him."—Jennifer Haigh, author of Faith

Deep in the rugged Appalachians of North Carolina lies the cove, a dark, forbidding place where spirits and fetches wander, and even the light fears to travel. Or so the townsfolk of Mars Hill believe—just as they know that Laurel Shelton, the lonely young woman who lives within its shadows, is a witch. Born with an angry purple blotch that stains her white skin, Laurel is shunned by the insular, superstitious locals. Alone except for her brother, Hank, newly returned from the trenches of France, she aches for her life to begin.

Then it happens—a mysterious stranger appears, carrying nothing but a beautiful silver flute and a note explaining that his name is Walter, he is mute, and is bound for New York. Laurel finds him in the woods, nearly stung to death by yellow-jackets, and nurses him back to health. As the days pass, Walter slips easily into life in the cove and into Laurel’s heart, bringing her the only real happiness she has ever known.

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (April 10, 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-0061804199