Bøger af Pam Durban

Louisa Hilliard, the last descendant of one of Charleston's oldest families, finds her quiet life turned upside down when she comes upon the diary of one of her ancestors, which recounts the story of Diana, a 19th Century slave who worked for the Hilliards. As Louisa learns of Diana's tragic fate, she begins to sense a presence roaming in her house. Attempting to appease this presence and set right age-old wrongs, she discovers how her own life is entangled in her family's haunted history.

The seven stories in Pam Durban's widely praised debut collection are tales of family, of love and loss, of survival and affirmation. Durban's resonant prose subtly obliges her readers to experience the rush of icy water in a stream, the taste of greens freshly snatched from an overgrown garden, the dread weight of confusion and uncertainty. A country singer more than a few big breaks short of stardom, a mill worker coping with the death of her teenage son, a preadolescent boy lovestruck over his private swimming instructor, a father cut off from his children by haunting war memories: these and other characters are made real and consequential by Durban's touch.

John and Louise Vess have conducted their lives seamlessly and honorably in the South Carolina home that has been in their family for generations. Upon John's sudden death, their daughter Annie-also a recent widow-returns to comfort Louise. But Annie finds all has changed: a gigantic artificial lake has flooded the woods she remembers, her sensible mother spouts born-again homilies, and her father's reputation is threatened by a long-hidden scandal.