Beginning ~ with rejection

The truck's government tag always tipped them off before his Kansas accent could.  After a decade of working for the TVA, he'd learned the best reception to hope for was a brooding fatalism.  He had been cursed and spit at and refused a place to eat or sleep, his tires slashed and mirrors and windshields shattered.  Knives and guns had been drawn, pitchforks and axes wielded.

But it had been different here.  There was no one to evict and, once he explained where the lake would be, no more glares or sullen words.  You can't bury that cove deep enough for me, an older man named Parton said, and those sharing the store bench with him nodded in agreement.

I'm hooked.  Who is he, what's he doing here, and why are the people so angry?  And what's wrong with "the cove," anyway?

The Cove ~ by Ron Rash, 2012, fiction (North Carolina)

Deep in the rugged Appalachians of North Carolina lies the cove, a dark, forbidding place where spirits and fetches wander, and even the light fears to travel.  Or so the townsfolk of Mars Hill believe — just as they know that Laurel Shelton, the lonely young woman who lives within its shadows, is a witch.  Then it happens — a stranger appears, carrying nothing but a silver flute and a note explaining that his name is Walter and he is mute — and Laurel experiences true companionship and happiness for the first time.  But Walter harbors a secret that could destroy everything.  In a time of uncertainty, when fear and danger reign, Laurel and Walter will discover that love alone may not be enough to protect them.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. Click here for today's Mister Linky.