First published 2014
Michael Gibson comes back to his family's Appalachian home after attempting suicide. He now cares for his grandmother Sadie, who grows weaker each day but insists on sharing her past. Sadie tells him about her childhood in the 1930s, when she was poor and Melungeon, part of a mixed-race group whose origins remain unclear. Her uncle handled snakes in religious ceremonies, and she possessed strange empathic abilities she never fully grasped. Meanwhile, Michael discovers something buried in a nearby field: a small shack covered by four feet of kudzu vines, containing an iron-bound crate. He senses that whatever lies inside threatens not only his life and his grandmother's, but every person living in their valley. As Sadie's stories unfold, Michael realizes he must understand her experiences completely. Only then can he face what waits in that hidden crate and prevent the destruction it might bring to everyone around them.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, dark-fantasy, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Appalachia
Period: 1930s
288 pages · Paperback · Solaris
Content warnings: mental-illness, suicide