Synopses & Reviews
“Set during World War One,
The Cove is a novel that speaks intimately to todays politics. Beautifully written, tough, raw, uncompromising, entirely new. Ron Rash is a writers writer who writes for others.”
—Colum McCann
“Ron Rash is a writer of both the darkly beautiful and the sadly true; The Cove solidifies his reputation as one of our very finest novelists.”
—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
Here is a magnificent tale that captures the wondrous beauty of nature and love—and the darkness of superstition and fear—from one of Americas most exciting contemporary novelists. With The Cove, Ron Rash, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Serena, returns to the Appalachian milieu he has previously so memorably evoked. A two-time O. Henry Prize winner for his short fiction—and recipient of the 2010 Frank OConnor International Story Award and the 2010 SIBA Book Award for his story collection Burning Bright—Rash can expect more honors for The Cove, a novel that brilliantly explores often dangerous notions of patriotism during wartime. This story of a love affair doomed in the rising turmoil of WWI resonates powerfully in todays world.
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“The gripping plot, gothic atmosphere, and striking descriptions, in particular of the dismal cove, make this a top-notch story of an unusual place and its fated and fearful denizens.” Publishers Weekly (starred review), Pick of the Week
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“Rash effortlessly summons the rugged Appalachian landscape as well as the small-mindedness and xenophobia of a country in the grip of patriotic fervor, drawing striking parallels to the heated political rhetoric of today. A powerful novel that skillfully overlays its tragic love story with pointed social commentary.” Booklist (starred review)
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“Ron Rash is a writer of both the darkly beautiful and the sadly true; his new novel, The Cove, solidifies his reputation as one of our very finest novelists.” Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of < i=""> Empire Falls <>
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“Rash develops his story masterfully; the large cast of characters is superbly realized, as is the xenophobia that accompanies the war, and Rash brings the various narrative threads together at the conclusion of the novel with formidable strength and pathos.” Library Journal (starred review)
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“I wish the whole world spoke the way Ron Rashs characters do. Read him for his poetry and great humanity. Just read him.” Jennifer Haigh, author of < i=""> Faith <>
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“Ron Rash uses language with such apparently effortless skill that it is as though he found words in his barn as a child and has been training them to fit his needs ever since....Rash throws a big shadow now and its only going to get bigger and soon.” Daniel Woodrell, author of < i=""> Winter's Bone <>
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“Set during World War One, The Cove is a novel that speaks intimately to todays politics. Beautifully written, tough, raw, uncompromising, entirely new. Ron Rash is a writers writer who writes for others.” Colum McCann
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“Lonely young woman meets mysterious stranger. What might have been trite and formulaic is anything but in Rashs fifth novel, a dark tale of Appalachian superstition and jingoism so good it gives you chills… Even better than the bestselling Serena (2008), for here Rash has elevated melodrama to tragedy.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“Mr. Rashs writing is so richly atmospheric…[he] can make words take wing…. A breathless sequence of events lead the book to its devastating final sentence. And that sentence affirms Mr. Rashs reputation for writerly miracles.” Janet Maslin, New York Times
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“[B]eautifully crafted…In [the coves] story, we hear the unique voice of a region made all the more poignant for how few will ever hear it exactly this way again.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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“A gently beautiful new novel…Rash, a native of Appalachia, has written a southern tragedy, with a self-consciously Shakespearean structure and economy…. [A] powerful novel, with some of the mysterious moral weight of Carson McCullers, along with a musical voice that belongs to Rash alone.” USA Today
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“This book ranks among the best backwoods fiction since 2006s Winters Bone.... [A] gripping novel…[not] just an elegant work of literary fiction, written in a voice thats hauntingly simple and Southern; its also a riveting mystery.” Entertainment Weekly,
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“Rash is particularly good at capturing the hazy space where otherworldly phantoms mingle with plain old human meanness…Rash never lays down a dull or clunky line…at the very end…these pages ignite, and suddenly were racing through a conflagration of violence that no one seems able to control except Rash.” Washington Post
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“In Rashs skilled hands, even farm chores take on a meditative beauty.” People
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“Rash masterfully poises suspense elements and gives full reign to other strengths: language, awe, symbolism, cast of characters and mountain knowledge…. Its a book you could read again to savor the writing. Rash has found a subject that compellingly represents his visionbeauty shadowed by foreboding; and hes made it symphonic.” Asheville Citizen-Times
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“The Cove, the laconically beautiful new novel by Ron Rash, actually is lyrical, in the dictionary sense of having to do with song or poetry. Rashs gorgeous prose is as close to song as youll find without an accompanying score . . .” New Orleans Times-Picayune
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“The Cove is a beautifully written book that uses heartfelt characters to describe the difficult life of a lonely, misunderstood young woman.” The Desert News
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“Ron Rash has a deft touch in describing both landscape and household, and his use of evocatively specific regionalisms never edges into condescension or vernacular.” Open Letters Monthly / Like Fire (blog)
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“Ron Rash always satisfies. . . His newest novel, , reinforces this assessment. Rash still knows how to delivers a terrifically searing blow.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
Synopsis
Deep in the rugged Appalachians of North Carolina lies the cove, a dark, forbidding place where spirits and fetches wander, and even the light fears to travel. Or so the townsfolk of Mars Hill believe-just as they know that Laurel Shelton, the lonely young woman who lives within its shadows, is a witch.
Then it happens-a stranger appears, carrying nothing but a silver flute and a note explaining that his name is Walter and he is mute-and Laurel experiences true companionship and happiness for the first time.
But Walter harbors a secret that could destroy everything. In a time of uncertainty, when fear and danger reign, Laurel and Walter will discover that love alone may not be enough to protect them.
About the Author
Ron Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to four other prizewinning novels, including One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, The World Made Straight, and The Cove; four collections of poems; and six collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award; Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award; and most recently, Something Rich and Strange. Twice the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.