'Rash tells great stories, raw and powerful ... He understands the way life works.' -- The Irish Times 'An unmitigated joy.' -- The Independent on Sunday 'Ron Rash is the best American novelist I have come upon in the last twenty years.' -- The Scotsman 'Exquisite. A breathless sequence of events lead the book to its devastating final sentence.' -- The New York Times 'A mesmerising novel of love and betrayal that stays singularly in the mind after it has finished.' -- The Observer