Greasewood Creek

Written with the precision of Cynthia Ozick and the blunt passion of Alice Munro this riveting story takes place on a landscapethe deserts of Eastern Oregonitself a deeply important character in this remarkable first novel.Avery is no stranger to the weight of loss the way it shapes and defines the expanse of a life. The death of her sister when Avery was just a child herself engulfed her and her familya mother driven mad a father who disappeared and all the while neighbors and friends ignoring and surviving. The loss shades Avery''s full being becoming a deep part of her past and her future.. As a young woman Avery''s life in Eastern Oregon ranch country is filled with an acquired family: her partner Davis Lovell a ranch hand and father figure; Lennie Lovell''s daughter; and Davis''s grandparents. When Avery suffers the loss of her and Davis''s newborn child it triggers and revives in her a familiar sense of guilt one she has carried since childhood over the disintegration of her family.