"A thoroughly engaging read by an enormously gifted storyteller."-Julie Mars

In 1957, Mary Alice was a rebellious teenager in love with a rich Yankee boy who had just moved to her small Virginia mountain town-much to the chagrin of her God-fearing mother, Lavinia. By 2004, Mary Alice has become a spinster biology teacher who hasn't spoken to her mother in over forty years.

When Lavinia dies, Mary Alice's niece, Claire, inherits the family house and moves to Virginia, bringing along a deep curiosity about her family's dark past-and plenty of emotional baggage of her own.

"An aging spinster biology teacher and her 20-something niece spend a summer getting to know one another in this careful and plodding debut novel. Mary Alice McDonnell fits every stock description of the lonely, middle-aged schoolmarm: dowdy and prickly, devoted to her mundane, hermit-like routine. It works for her until her niece, a perky graduate student named Claire, inherits a house from Mary Alice's recently deceased mother. Mary Alice and her mother had been estranged for 40 years following a mysterious event, dangled through alternating flashback chapters; needless to say, Claire's sudden appearance in the small Virginia town brings back unwanted memories. In an extraordinary coincidence, Claire also reintroduces a piece of her aunt's history: the e-mail address of Michael Harrison, Mary Alice's erstwhile beau, now a famous New York poet. When everything blows out into the open at last, readers may be too wary to notice; too rich with contrivances and expository dialogue, the book falls short of its potential. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Janet Beard graduated from NYU's Dramatic Writing program and received an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Beneath the Pines is her first novel.