Serena: A Novel

An award-winning writer pens this Gothic tale of greed, corruption, and revenge set against the backdrop of the 1930s wilderness and America's burgeoning environmental movement, in his biggest, most accessible novel to date.

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains--but she soon shows herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together, this Lord and Lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to kill the son George had without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pemberton's intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. Rash's masterful sense of violence and beauty for which he is renowned takes center stage in SERENA, and the result is powerfully riveting.