Publisher's Synopsis
"O'Brien portrays a West Virginia beset by coal-mining tragedies and poverty, blessed with lush beauty and rich mountain culture" - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY John O'Brien's deeply evocative book reveals a place and a way of life - and the lives of an estranged father and son whose differences rest, ironically, in their own powerful bonds to Appalachia. When John decided to settle near his father's birthplace in West Virginia, he hoped to comprehend the elder O'Brien's attachment to the land, as well as the disabling fatalism he had carried with him. What he discovered is hardly the mythic Appalachia most Americans imagine, but a world of extravagant beauty - lush with green mountains, deep forests, ice-cold trout streams, and small hill farms. The people who inhabit this land are for the most part working class, straightforward, open and easygoing. They tend to look back more than most Americans do, defining themselves by how they fit into an extended family that includes their ancestors. This is a mountain culture that feels old and deeply rooted, that follows a traditional way of life. It is a world that the author would finally love and call his own.
