A woman is forced to face her past in a heartbreaking and triumphant novel of old wounds and family secrets by award-winning author Joy Castro. Isabel Morales is a successful Chicago sculptor hiding a brutal family history--one not even her husband knows. After decades of turning her back on her past, she's forced to return to Appalachia when she receives news of her estranged mother's death. But going back means revisiting the traumatic childhood she escaped--and the family that cast her out when she needed them most. Back on the land she has inherited, she's flooded with memories of the forest where she once roamed free, of her beloved lost brother, and of the old house in the West Virginia hills where she grew up. Her mother has left her another legacy, too, which reveals secrets that Isabel is only beginning to understand. As forces bear down and threaten to take what she has left, it's time for Isabel to step into her power, reclaim her roots, and finally confront the painful memories that have kept her from the life she truly wants.
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This book had some good parts and some less good parts - I thought the rich boy/poor girl trope was a little too extreme, and Isabel seems selfish throughout the book. I also thought the thing with Billy was a little unnecessary for the plot. However, Castro is a technically great writer, and I liked the side characters. I would give this 3 stars, but too many Trumpsters have come in here and been annoying about one page in this book, so I feel like I need to balance it out.
