NATIVE
At 24, Annie leaves her husband and California to return to the Allegheny Mountains and to Clare whose feral ways are as protective as they are provocative. She settles near her friend’s home---an ancient community untroubled by modern law---where she ventures into the horse business. In doing so she naively brings together an incendiary mix of race and values. Dangerously optimistic she refuses to listen to Jack, the boy who travels between the Holler and Annie’s farm when he warns her, “people don’t give up their hates easy.” She continues to hang onto hope while houses burn, horses run wild and the sun blasts the land, turning it to tinder. It is Clare who finally teaches her that people are who they are; that wanting doesn’t always make it so and in accepting this there is a freedom.
“I immediately liked the main character”… reader can feel tension building; …Cyndy Kelly
“This is a great story”… Sharon Dillon ... http://energywriter.me
This literary tale spun by author E. Compton Lee is a story written with keen insight into the twists and turns of love, deep friendship and betrayal. Ms. Lee brings to life a world of contrast between the grinding poverty in the “Holler” and the nearby affluence of those with property. Add a dissolute young woman who offers to work at Annie’s farm as a riding instructor and the story races to its harrowing climax. Lee examines the vagaries of women’s struggle for financial independence and the risks of trust. A very worthwhile read. John A. Bray author of The Ballad of Johnny Madigan and the Dante series.
