One Foot in Eden: A Novel [Paperback]

Will Alexander is the sheriff in a small town in southern Appalachia, and he knows that the local thug Holland Winchester has been murdered. The only thing is the sheriff can find neither the body nor someone to attest to the killing. Simply, almost elementally told through the voices of the sheriff, a local farmer, his beautiful wife, their son, and the sheriff's deputy,One Foot in Edensignals the bellwether arrival of Ron Rash, one the most mature and distinctive voices in Southern literature.

A classic tale of passion and tragedy. Each voice rings as true as the sound of an ax in the cold early morning air. Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls

Equal parts vintage crime novel and Southern Gothic, full of aching ambivalence and hard compromises, and rounded off by bad faith and bad choices,One Foot in Edenis a veritable garden of earthly disquiet. Los Angeles Times

Ruggedly beautiful...Reading Rash's tale is like listening to a plaintive mountain ballad about a time and place long vanished: the lyrics are sweet and mournful, wistful and dark. And, oh, doesOne Foot in Edenlinger! The Charlotte Observer

Rash's characters have a heroic quality as they struggle to fill the empty spaces in their hearts. They also have a poetic intensity. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One Foot In Edenis a story of wild, almost primitive force and yet it is neatly and ingeniously put together. Ron Rash knows to the core the ways of those who yearn for what is just beyond their grasp. Here is a lasting experience. Fred Chappell, Poet Laureate of North Carolina

Ron Rash writes like a prince! Pat Conroy

One Foot in Edenis a forceful but never forced narrative. Rash moves his tragedy along with great authority, revealing motives that build to the complexity of each character as well as our fascination with them and the outcome of their lives. It is a finely polished novel.l³(