A heartwarming novel of hope, fate, and folk magic unfolds when a young woman travels to a sleepy southern town in the Appalachian Mountains to bury her best friend.
Mel Smith has always known life isn't easy. After all, she was abandoned as an infant and raised in foster care. But still, when the only bright spot in her life, her best friend Sarah Ross, unexpectedly dies, it's a heartbreak unlike any other.
A final promise to lay Sarah to rest in the Ross wildwood garden draws Mel to Morgan's Gap, a small town nestled in the shadows of the Appalachian Mountains. Yet Morgan's Gap is more than a land of morning mists and deep forest shadows.
There are secrets that call to Mel, in the gaze of the gnarled and knowing woman everyone calls "Granny," who seems to have expected her; in a salvaged remedy book filled with healing tinctures and salves; in the strange connection she feels to the Ross homestead and the wilderness around it. In fulfilling her promise, Mel might end up finding a home-and remain connected to Sarah in a way she least expected.
The wildwood is whispering. It has secrets to reveal-if you're willing to listen...
Evocative and quietly moving, a tale of hope after traumatic loss, the magic of found family, and the intrinsic connection between women and community beckons in Willa Reece's captivating debut.
