Charley Bland

I loved this book so much that I was moved to come on here and tell you all about it. I had always heard of Mary Lee Settle, but had never read her work. I picked this book up in a used bookstore and feel so thankful that I did. Her writing is gorgeous, mesmerizing, full of truths and observations that we all see, but so few can articulate. It's a slender novel and yet rich with detail so you end up feeling like it's much longer than it is. Settle represents this entire community and culture so well that you feel like you know these people, and the love story at the center of the novel is utterly timeless. The book is romantic and heartbreaking and painful not in the popular "pink roses" sense of romance, but so much like the way many have lived romantic love....aching and bittersweet and complicated. I am a writer and an avid reader and this book knocked me out in a way that so few do. Highly recommended. I plan to read all of her other books now.