by Brad Watson
First published 2003
Finus Bates spots Birdie Wells doing a naked cartwheel in the Mississippi woods in 1916. That moment ignites a lifelong obsession. He wins her in a poker game, then loses her again. When her philandering husband dies under suspicious circumstances, Finus sees another chance. But Birdie remains maddeningly out of reach. The old medicine woman Vish lives down in the ravine and may understand what drives Birdie. Town undertaker Parnell harbors dark appetites that blur the line between desire and death. Mercury keeps growing, but its secrets run deep. Watson tells this story of unrequited love with sharp humor and a clear view of human folly. Finus keeps pursuing what he cannot have while the town's eccentric characters guard their own mysteries.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Mississippi
Period: 1916
352 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company