Thirty-two-year-old Annabeth Jefferds has spent her entire adult life in Seattle trying to de-program the lessons she learned as a child of the South: stay quiet, do what you’re told, don’t ask questions. Re-starting her life is going well until Annabeth receives a phone call. Her sister, Bean, is sick and her father isn’t answering his phone. To make sure Bean is safe, Annabeth must go back to South Carolina and once again endure the life she’d left behind.
The more time Annabeth spends at home, the more she realizes there’s something strange going on. Annabeth sees odd animals lurking on the edge of the forest, but that can’t be. Rabbits don’t have human thumbs for ears and foxes with broken necks can’t just scamper away. She must be imagining things.
Meanwhile, Annabeth’s ex-boyfriend, Gum, keeps reminding her of the life she left behind, Bean spends her days lying in bed, in and out of coherent thought, and their father wastes his time puttering around the property, muttering to himself.
Annabeth quickly learns that her southern roots run deeper than she thought possible, and she may never be able to dig herself out.
Below is a running playlist that gets me in the mood to work on this book.