Serena - Softcover

A bloody - and bloody brilliant - story of passion and revenge. Terrific * * The Times * * Bitter and brilliant . . . it could sit comfortably on any bookshelf beside Cormac McCarthy or Charles Frazier . . . the plot moves with precision, beautifully wrought. The author's acute sense of place is evident on every page * * Guardian * * A stunningly effective novel that is stark, fierce, dramatic and gripping from its unforgettable opening paragraph -- Janet Maslin * * New York Times, Top Ten Books of 2008 * * It's too hypnotic to break away from. Innocent people are in peril, and calamity seems as unstoppable . . . The final chapter is as flawless and captivating as anything I've read this year * * Washington Post * * Rash's evocative rendering of the blighted landscape and the tough characters who inhabit it recalls both John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy, while the malignant character of Serena, who projects a "stark unflinching certainty" about her actions, propels his finely paced story * * New Yorker * * If Serena becomes famous as the basis for a coming Jennifer Lawrence-Bradley Cooper movie, never forget that it began as a fierce, breathtaking book, one of the greatest American novels in recent memory * * New York Times * * In an age when literary fiction is so intent on subtlety that it often winds up virtually inert, a novel with this much uncomplicated gusto and narrative drive is a rare thing; in the case of Serena, it's also a welcome one * * Salon * * A searing tragedy of Shakespearean proportions - or, in simpler terms, a damn good book that will keep you awake far too late and, well after you've finished it, haunt your dreams -- Julia Glass, author of THREE JUNES A gorgeous, brutal novel -- Richard Price, author of LUSH LIFE

There's a woman here who wishes to be introduced to you Mr Pemberton . . . I should caution you, though. She has frightened off every other bachelor in Boston . . . Just remember you were warned, just as I've warned her. 1929. George and Serena Pemberton arrive in the wilds of the North Carolina mountains to build a life together in a rural logging town. Unlike any woman the timber empire has ever seen, Serena oversees crews, hunts rattlesnakes and saves her husband's life in the wilderness. But when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, the Pemberton's intensely passionate marriage begins to unravel. A course of events unfolds that will change the lives of everyone in their rural community and bring this riveting tale of love and revenge to its shocking reckoning.