The Scent of Rain and Lightning

Written with the wisdom and grace devoted readers have come to expect from the award-winning author of The Virgin of Small Plains, here is a brilliantly moving tale of family, murder, and redemptive love.

Rose, Kansas, is a quiet town, content with the orderly and the predictable. But a terrible secret lays long dormant, until one fateful day. Young Jody Linder wakes up one morning to find her three uncles on her doorstep. They bring the shocking news that Billy Crosby, the man convicted of murdering her father, is being released from prison and is returning to town. There is also Collin Crosby, the lawyer who has spent most of his life trying to prove his father's innocence. Now Jody must confront Collin and their shared antagonism--as well as their shared sense of loss, which no one else can ever understand.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning captures the essence of small-town America, its heartfelt intimacy and its darkest secrets, where through struggle and hardship people still dare to hope for a better future--and maybe even love.