Beauty and sweetness weave a diaphanous fabric against the stark
backdrop of poverty and cruelty.--Sara Gruen, bestselling author of
Water for Elephants
Nameless, Kentucky, in 1969 is a hardscrabble community where jobs are
few and poverty is a simple fact--just like the hot Appalachian breeze
or the pests that can wipe out a tobacco field in days. RubyLyn Bishop
is luckier than some. Her God-fearing uncle, Gunnar, has a short fuse
and high expectations, but he's given her a good home ever since she was
orphaned at the age of five. Yet now, a month shy of her sixteenth
birthday, RubyLyn itches for more.
Maybe it's something to do with the paper fortunetellers RubyLyn has
been making for townsfolk, each covered with beautifully wrought,
prophetic drawings. Or perhaps it's because of Rainey Ford, an
African-American neighbor who works alongside her in the tobacco field,
and with whom she has a kinship, despite her uncle's worrisome shadow
and the town's disapproval. RubyLyn's predictions are just wishful
thinking, not magic at all, but through them she's imagining life as it
could be, away from the prejudice and hardship that ripple through
Nameless.
Atmospheric, poignant, and searingly honest, GodPretty in the Tobacco
Field follows RubyLyn through the course of one blazing summer, as
heartbreaking revelations and life-changing decisions propel her toward
a future her fortunetellers never predicted.
