The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains--but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.

羅恩·拉什，美國著名的詩人和小說傢，尤以長期研究阿帕拉契亞山文化聞名。1953年齣生於美國南卡羅萊納州的切斯特城，畢業於加德納大學，他獲得過歐•亨利文學奬，目前他在西卡羅萊納大學任教。著有《一腳跨進伊甸園》、《河畔聖徒》和《世界是條直行道》等作品，另外還有三部詩集和三部短篇小說集，其中《化學及其他故事》獲得瞭2007年的法爾剋納文學奬。《薩琳娜》為其2008年最新作品，曾入圍2009年福剋納文學奬決賽。