What Lies Under the Fallen Sky

by Erica Ryan

The past awakens in a small southern town as a family's mysterious tragedies are unraveled to its final living heir, one story at a time. Dodge Montgomery finds that he has not only inherited his lost family's ancestral home and land, but also the mysteries of their colorful lives and sometimes untimely deaths. Through the stories and accounts of the socially gracious and occasionally cryptic townspeople who know his family's history as if it was their own, in the course of just one week he begins to unravel the familial ties to a place he did not know he was bound to.

After learning that the paternal grandfather he was named for but never met has died, Dodge Montgomery travels from New York to a small town in Alabama, where he finds everyone already knows his name. Having never met the man who abandoned his pregnant mother before he was born, he must come face to face with his father's past, and the lingering legacy of a grandfather he despised. From the very first page the book takes the reader on a leisurely journey toward the final, shocking twist unfurled at the end.

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2016

About the author

Erica Ryan has lived in Philadelphia, New York City, London, Atlanta, and now resides in Shelby County, Alabama on a twelve-and-a-half-acre farm with her husband, as well as her llamas, fainting goats, chickens, and donkeys. She began her career with positions at multiple advertising agencies in the Philadelphia area, before moving on to marketing communications. Her writing spans over ten years in marketing for publishing houses as well as healthcare information and technology companies.

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't like the title and I HATE the main character's name (Dodge Montgomery!) but overall this was a very good first novel. Started out a bit weak for me with WAY too much description before the action got going. (A good editor should have chiseled some of those wordy unnecessary sentences out.) Having said that, I loved that the story was set in Alabama and I really enjoyed the small town characters. Had a nice ending that tied everything together very neatly.