Ron Rash
September 8, 2015
Above the Waterfall, local favorite Ron Rash’s latest novel, may be his most lyrical yet. The author of four previous novels, including his PEN/Faulkner award-winning Serena, six collections of stories, and four collections of poetry, Rash lets his poetic impulses shine in the voice of Becky Shytle, a park warden with a dark past and a beautiful eye for the natural world. Her story blends with that of her would-be lover, Les, whose final weeks as sheriff are troubled by a mystery involving Gerald, a surrogate grandfather to Becky. According to Publishers Weekly, “Rash’s widely celebrated style lends his Southern Gothic tinged books a suppleness that verges on prose poetry and, in the case of his new novel, elevates a small-town noir story.”