In this poetic and haunting tale set in contemporary Appalachia, New
York Times bestselling author Ron Rash illuminates lives shaped by
violence and a powerful connection to the land.
Les, a long-time sheriff just three-weeks from retirement, contends with
the ravages of crystal meth and his own duplicity in his small
Appalachian town.
Becky, a park ranger with a harrowing past, finds solace amid the
lyrical beauty of this patch of North Carolina.
Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have indelibly marked them,
they are drawn together by a reverence for the natural world. When an
irascible elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream, Les and
Becky are plunged into deep and dangerous waters, forced to navigate
currents of disillusionment and betrayal that will force them to
question themselves and test their tentative bond--and threaten to carry
them over the edge.
Echoing the heartbreaking beauty of William Faulkner and the spiritual
isolation of Carson McCullers, Above the Waterfall demonstrates once
again the prodigious talent of "a gorgeous, brutal writer" (Richard
Price) hailed as "one of the great American authors at work today"
(Janet Maslin, New York Times).
