The Friday Book Club pick this week is Ron Rash’s unforgettable Serena.
The year is 1929 and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire.
Serena is new to the mountains— but she soon proves herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband’s life in the wilderness.
Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of everyone in this remote community; and as the Pembertons’ intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel, this riveting story of love, passion and revenge moves toward its shocking reckoning.
Ron Rash is a multi-award-winning poet, short story writer and novelist. Serena was a New York Times bestseller and won him comparisons to John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy. Ron’s debut novel, One Foot in Eden, was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2010.
You can watch Ron read from Serena here and discussion notes are available for your reading group here.
Burning Bright, Ron Rash’s collection of stories, will be out later this year.
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