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Written with the knowledge and grace devoted readers have come to expect from the award-winning author of The Virgin of Small Plains, this is a brilliantly moving tale of family, murder, and redemptive love.
One beautiful summertime evening, from her bedroom screen on the next floor, Jody Linder is unnerved to see her three uncles parking their pickups before her parents' house -- or what she calls her parents' house, even though Jay and Laurie Jo Linder have been gone the vast majority of Jody's life. ''What is this fearsome thing I see?'' the young high school English tutor whispers, mimicking Shakespeare. Refined boots, pressed jeans, fresh white tee shirts, Stetsons -- her uncles' suspiciously clean going to clothes are a disturbing sign.
The three bring surprising news: The person convicted of murdering Jody's dad has been released from prison and returning to the tiny town of Rose, Kansas. It has been twenty-six years since that stormy night time when, as baby Jody lay asleep in her crib, her dad was taken and wiped out and her mom disappeared, presumed useless. Neither the defensive embrace of Jody's uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents' ranch could erase the pain induced by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night time.
Now Billy Crosby has been awarded a fresh trial, thanks a lot in large part to the efforts of his child, Collin, a lawyer who has put in almost all of his life aiming to confirm his father's innocence. As Jody lives only a few entrances down from the Crosbys, she has learned that ultimately she'll come face-to-face with the man who she is convinced ruined her family.
What she doesn't expect will be the heated up exchanges with Collin. Having grown up practically hand and hand in this really small town, Jody and Collin have had a long history of carefully avoiding each other's eyes. Now Jody discovers that underneath their antagonism is a shared sense of reduction that no one else could possibly understand. As she revisits old wounds, startling revelations compel her to uncover the dangerous truth about her family's tragic past.
Engrossing, lyrical, and suspenseful, The Scent of Rainwater and Lightning captures the essence of small-town America -- its heartfelt intimacy and its own darkest secrets -- where through struggle and hardship people still dare to expect a much better future. For Jody Linder, maybe even love.
