Abstract:
Hollis, Virginia, a tiny wrinkle in the map, is a quiet place of unlocked doors and a distinct right-and-wrong line. Hollis claims several eccentrics: a recluse who lives with animals and thinks he’s a cousin to the Vice-President; a church sexton who never stays for services; a flamboyant half-Indian who’s the community’s chief provocateur. In the summer of 1957, Calvin Jackson finds his carefree Hollis life disrupted when a new schoolmate, Jessie Myers, moves to the hollow. Jessie’s novel approach to life causes Cal consternation, and her unbridled curiosity leads them on a mission to exhume a long-dormant secret.