In the Valley: Stories and a Novella Based on SERENA

by Ron Rash

In these ten stories, Ron Rash spins a haunting allegory of the times we live in--rampant capitalism, the severing of ties to the natural world in the relentless hunt for profit, the destruction of body and soul with pills meant to mute our pain--and yet within this world he illuminates acts of extraordinary decency and heroism. Two of the stories have already been singled out for accolades: "Baptism" was chosen by Roxane Gay for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 2018, and "Neighbors" was selected by Jonathan Lethem for The Best American Mystery Stories 2019. And in revisiting Serena Pemberton, Rash updates his bestselling parable of greed run amok as his deliciously vindictive heroine returns to the North Carolina wilderness she left scarred and desecrated to make one final effort to kill the child that threatens all she has accomplished.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Southern, Southern Gothic, Novella

220 pages, Hardcover

First published August 4, 2020

About the author

Ron Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times bestselling novel, Serena, in addition to three other prizewinning novels, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; three collections of poems; and four collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O.Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When will you have achieved all your ambitions, Mrs. Pemberton?” she asked, as others jostled around them.
“When the world and my will are one,” Serena answered.

--------------------------------------

The mountain lion was the first to depart the valley. The front paw lost years back to a trap’s steel teeth was warning enough. As the trees began to fall, others followed: black bear and bobcat, otter and mink, some in pairs, some singly. Then beaver and weasel, deer and muskrat, groundhog and fox. After them raccoon and rabbit, opossum and chipmunk, squirrel and vole, deer mouse and shrew . . .

Ron Rash writes of place and people. The place is Appalachia, the people are its residents, and those who stop by to extract what it has to offer.

One thing I want to do is for landscape and my characters to be inextricably bound together. I believe the landscape people live in has to affect their psychology. - from the Transatlantica interview

The time? Fluid, any time from the Civil War to the present.

In a sense, I’m writing a current that runs through time in those stories. And, also, paradoxically time is a kind of geography as well: it is also a way of showing people in much different cultural mindsets, even within a specific culture, and thus another way to probe for the universal within a specific cultural landscape.

There are nine stories and one novella in this collection, the book taking its title, In the Valley, from that longer piece.


Ron Rash - image from the Charlotte Observer

Many of these stories include bullying behavior. A Trumpian sort tries to stiff his contractors. A wife-beater demands what he sees as his rights despite his crimes. A thuggish person seeks to intimidate all around him. A corporate exploiter brings on a fitting punishment. But there are also stories that touch the heart without that external stress. Sad Man in the Sky offers a beautiful thought to counter a troubled past. L’homme Blessé shows a form of comfort for those in particularly difficult times. A good deed stands out in a low-end life in Last Bridge Burned. Rash counterpoints evil and redemption in his work. No less here. Throughout, the beauty of Rash’s writing raises the level of all the tales told.

If the language were not so beautiful and sublime, particularly in a play such as King Lear, the experience would be unbearable. What I’m trying for in my work—it’s up to the reader to decide if I do—is the sublime. I want my work to take the reader to that place. And I think you can do that with that juxtaposition of language and violence. - from the Transatlantica interview

But most of all there is In the Valley. If you have not read Rash’s masterpiece, Serena, I urge you to either order it online or dash out to an open bookstore and pick up a copy ASAP. It is one of the best novels ever. Sadly, the film that was made of it was a huge disappointment. But that changes nothing about the book. Read it, please, please, please. You will not be sorry. You can read In the Valley without having read Serena, but, really, don’t. This novella continues the tale of Serena Pemberton, a Lady Macbethian figure, with no moral restrictions. Her only law is greed, and if that requires some violence, no problem. Her personal thug, Galloway, despite having lost part of an arm, does his best to spread his pain around.

I think I tend to use maimed characters with the idea that the world they inhabit is wounded. - from the Transatlantica interview

Serena stands in for extraction industries of all sorts. Her only goal is to take as much as she can get. Attempting to clear-cut the remains of the land left to her when her husband died, under mysterious circumstances, in the novel, she feels no obligation to clean up the mess she leaves behind, ecological or human. Serena drives her men like livestock and will stop at nothing, even manipulating time itself, to see that the job gets done on schedule. Rash includes several chapter-end inserts that list all the local life that has been removed with each new level of destruction. I included one of these at the top of this review.

Ron Rash fully recaptures the feel, and substance of the novel, using a crew of workers as a Greek chorus, and showing Serena in all her horror. There is old world magic in the form of a blind, and dark-hearted seer, and plenty of dread-inducing people and situations to keep you from getting too comfortable. Serena is a horror movie monster. What she is doing to the land is as horrific as what she does to any who get in her way. It is a riveting read, with heroics as well as cruelty, and the sort of imagery that lets you know you are in the hands of a master.

THE STORIES

Neighbors - Mrs Rebecca Penland and her two kids are threatened by a group of Confederate raiders in Union territory. She expects that she will suffer what many of her neighbors have, her property in whole or part being burned, and maybe worse. But she also knows that her neighbors will rush to her aid.

The women would bring food enough to get Rebecca and the children through the winter. Men would bring axes and the surrounding woods would sound like gunshots as the honed metal struck in the November air. All day the women would cook and tend fires. Children would gather kindling, then scuff among ashes for the iron nails that had secured the shingles. Everyone would work until dusk, then return the next day to help more. Ira Wilkey might or might not say We will get through this together, but that was understood. They were neighbors.

There is a great twist here. Be ready.

When All the Stars Fall from the Sky
Father and son contractors have a very different approach to the world. Pop is old-school, contracting on a handshake. He is a stickler for detail, even if that makes him slower to complete projects. Junior is much more a person of the present, willing to cut corners, always looking to make a few extra bucks on the cheap. They make the mistake of taking on work from a very Trumpian sort, someone eager to squeeze the absolute most out them without offering fair compensation. How they respond shows the change that has come over too much of the nation.

When Brent was growing up, his father would point out how a plumber in Brevard had done shoddy work but then gone out of business, or how a county clerk embezzled money for three years but ended up in prison. It catches up with you, son, he’d say. But plenty did get away with it, Brent knew. All you had to do was look at the recession, which almost caused him and his father to lose everything. The silk-tied crooks who’d done it weren’t arrested and no one pretended they ever would be. People like that got away with anything. Get caught robbing folks, all you had to do was pay back part of what you stole. Turn a million people into drug addicts, you didn’t spend a day in jail.

The treatment of Roger Stone would fit right in. Why be decent in an indecent world?

Sad Man in the Sky - (there is a link to the story in EXTRA STUFF)
A poignant tale of a chopper pilot offering Smoky Mountain Park Tours taking on a job flying a bedraggled-looking man to a dodgy part of the area. The things he sees stirs images from the past. I press the pedal and the skids lift free of the earth. As always, memories of long-ago flights tense my stomach.. He does not know what his passenger is all about, but hopes for the best.

L’homme Blessé
Jake Yancy, an art teacher at Brevard College, is asked by a former student to check out artwork done by her Uncle Walt in a cabin that is set to be demolished. Walt had returned home from his combat in Europe damaged, but brought back as well memories of peace and beauty, from a surprising source. Yancy is able to relate, given his own recent losses. What he finds when he investigates is remarkable.

The Baptism
Jason Gunter is young and off-the-scale arrogant. He wants Reverend Yates to baptize him. Yates is not inclined, given that Gunter is a wife beater, who may have killed one wife already, and has driven off a second. Now he has his mind set on wedding that one’s fourteen-year-old sister, Pearl.

Four congregation members on his porch, Marvin Birch at the head. They do not want him to baptize Gunter. He says there is a chance that the baptism may cleanse his soul, even if he does not really expect it to do so. And if he refuses, he will force Eliza [Pearl’s mother] and Pearl to walk in the freezing cold to another preacher much farther away, endangering their health.

A tough tale on the challenge of doing the right thing while contending with the demands of religious law and an awful human being.

Flight - (there is a link to the story in EXTRA STUFF)
Stacy is a Park Ranger with a powerful feel for the land she is charged with protecting. A boorish sort makes life difficult for others wanting to fish there. Even though her boss tells her not to engage with this rectum, she cannot let this behavior stand and does what she can to interrupt him. There is an underlying stream here of belonging to the land, not just visiting, but participating and engaging, not just playing. I was reminded of Becky Shytle in Rash’s novel, Above the Waterfall. Becky had found a similar connection to and solace in nature, a way for her spirit to take flight. Trout turn up frequently in Rash’s writing. In Flight, Stacy points a visitor to where real, not stocked, trout might be found.

Trout have to live in a pure environment unlike human beings; they can’t live in filth! And so I think there is a kind of wonder; to me, they’re incredibly beautiful creatures…when such creatures disappear, we have lost something that cannot be brought back. - from the Transatlantica interview

Last Bridge Burned
Carlyle is down three jobs and two wives. He is closing in on 60, working at a gas station, shutting down for the night, when a woman comes by, thirtyish, just ditched from a car heading to Nashville. “Last bridge burned,” she says. Will he help her out? What about Carlyle? Are there any more bridges for him? This line just kills me. He made some coffee and sat in the front room, staring at nail holes in the wall where pictures once hung.

Ransom
Jennifer, daughter of a particularly well-to-do father, wakes in the trunk of a car, kidnapped, held by her abductor, who is not obviously otherwise unkind to her, for a prolonged period. She tries to engage him in conversation, as one does. Making yourself human makes it tougher for them to treat you like you are disposable. Her kidnapper lost a child, although he will not speak of her. A killer O Henry-ish twist ties this one up.

The Belt
Jubal is 80 years old, a Civil War woundee, his life spared when an incoming minié ball glanced off his considerable belt buckle, which sports an eagle with claws extended, his very lucky belt. He is caring for his great-grandchild while his grandson Rob, and wife Lizzie, head into town to sell their eggs and butter. But a big storm is coming and the river is rising way too fast for comfort. The sandbars had disappeared, but the big boulder midstream broke the onrushing water like a ship’s hull. No flood had ever submerged this rock. Can Jubal hang on until his grandson and his wife return? Can he keep the little one safe? The land provides, but the land can also take away. A scary story of contending with natural forces run amok and looking for a bit of luck. With obvious resonance to the climate crises of today.

I think people in mountains tend to feel very close to that place. … There’s almost the sense that the mountains are rising up around them, protecting them, almost like a womb. There’s a sense of security in a way. I think that also at times it can be oppressive. There’s a sense of mountains looming over people, reminding them how small and brief their lives are. I find it interesting to see what I can do with that as a writer. - from the Daily “Yonder interview

In the Valley is a magnificent collection, showing off one of America’s greatest writers at the peak of his powers, in his favorite form.

Short fiction is the medium I love the most, because it requires that I bring everything I’ve learned about poetry—the concision, the ability to say something as vividly as possible—but also the ability to create a narrative that, though lacking a novel’s length, satisfies the reader. - from The Daily Beast interview

He takes on classic conflicts, particularly exploitation of the lesser by the greater, or at least, by the cruder, but with a modern sensibility. He brings his poet’s ear for language to the short prose form, elevating the stories to high art. And he does this without losing the ability to engage, to make you feel, and to make you consider. And if that is not enough, he adds in twists that would make O Henry proud. My only gripe about In the Valley is that it did not go on forever. It is nothing less than sublime.

He headed west on Highway 19, the directions on the passenger seat. The leaves were off the trees now, revealing time-worn swells so unlike the wild, seismic peaks and valleys beloved by European Romantics such as Pernhart and Friedrich. Sturm und Drang. Yet the Appalachians were daunting in their uniformity, a vast wall, unmarked by crevices that might provide an easy path out.

Review first posted – July 31, 2020

Publication dates
----------August 4, 2020 - hardcover
----------July 13, 2021 - trade paperback

I received a chance to read this book early thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley. They must have known how much I love Ron Rash’s work.

==========In the summer of 2019 GR reduced the allowable review size by 25%, from 20,000 to 15,000 characters. In order to accommodate the text beyond that I have moved it to the comments section directly below.

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She’s back," Snipes said, as the men followed the bird’s flight toward the head of the valley. There they saw their employer of three years, a woman who at first had done things no woman they’d ever known would have dared, then later no man.

serena is back. and she is NOT messing around. not only is Serena my favorite ron rash novel, it’s one of my favorite all-time books, because serena herself is a FORCE OF NATURE. which, because it’s 2020, means she’s a fire tornado surrounded by murder hornets. i always shorthand that novel in readers’ advisory interactions to “it’s macbeth in a north carolina depression-era logging community,” but serena makes lady macbeth look like lady bird johnson. and while she’s not a character you can, in good conscience, root for, you dare not look away.

i was, naturally, tempted to skip straight to the serena novella, but then i figured it was the last piece in the book for a reason, so i exercised my power of restraint, anticipating it like dessert.

if the rest of the book was a meal, it was one of those memorable and satisfying ones you recall with deep pleasure for years to come. like any meal, some courses are better than others, and for me, the lima beans of this were Sad Man in the Sky and L’homme Blessé, but even lima beans are tasty when you call ‘em ‘butter beans’ and cook ‘em with plenty of bacon, and ron rash’s prose is a rich and salty bacon trimmed of unsightly fat.

his sense of location is as strong as ever, but no matter where or when these stories take place, their driving forces are universal and demonstrably still part of our yooman experience; whether it’s people abusing their power and screwing over the underclass, exploiting or taking advantage of someone’s ethical code for their own betterment, abusing their wives, making money off the suffering of others, thinking the rules don’t apply to them, hiding damaging personal secrets to avoid persecution etc etc. there’s nothing new under the sun. sometimes there’s comeuppance for bad behavior, but even justice has its price, sprouting emotional burdens for others to carry.

these are stories of transition—whether of characters struggling against the tide of changing value systems or ecological changes arising as human progress takes its toll. it’s not as bleak as it sounds—like the natural world, ron rash appreciates balance, and the best word to describe most of these stories is “bittersweet.” Last Bridge Burned and The Belt are standouts in the bittersweet category, while The Baptism and Flight are slightly less sweet, but my two personal favorites from the short story part of the collection.

and then there’s the Serena novella, revisiting a character written twelve years ago in a story as chilling as it is relevant to our now. i must confess, i started getting anxious towards the middle—events seemed to be heading towards an unwelcome and irremediable conclusion that would diminish everything that made serena such a formidable character. i’m such a dummy. ron rash ain’t no fool, and that final line SLEW ME.

i’d read Serena first, if i were in the business of making suggestions about reading choices, because there’s a lot here that hinges on the events of that excellent novel, but it does technically work as a standalone. you do you.

i will leave you with some real talk about birds, from the story Flight, featuring a different badass female character with an affinity to the ways of ravens:

The name had been bestowed on her last summer at the ranger academy. In nineteenth-century Colorado, the instructor had told them, a woman hoeing in her garden had watched a raven fly toward her, dip low as it passed overhead, and settle a few feet away. The bird performed the same action twice more. Perplexed, the woman looked around the surrounding land. She saw it then, a mountain lion hunched low in the prairie grass. She dropped her hoe and fled, barely reaching the safety of her cabin.

So what have we learned from this story? the instructor had asked. One trainee spoke of the woman’s ability, learned from living close to nature, to interpret the bird’s actions as a warning. Another spoke of the bird’s intelligence, its creation of a way to communicate danger to humans. The instructor waited and Stacy raised her hand for the only time all term. The bird was leading the cougar to prey they could share, she told the instructor. The class was silent but the professor nodded, said Stacy was the first student who’d ever answered correctly.

******************************************
sometimes, you can be SO excited that a book by one of your all-time favorite authors is coming out, and SO grateful to be given a finished copy AND an e-copy by the publisher pre-release, AND YET SOMEHOW STILL not get a chance to sit down with it until the day after it pubs.

but now, i begin.

*****************************************

new serena pemberton content??



come to my blog!

[Zoeytron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updated on 12-8-2020.  Having now read Serena, I returned to the novella in this collection based on the original novel.  It was more than enough to add one more star to my rating.  Below is a short review of the novella.

Deadlines and desecration.  Life and limbs have never been more expendable.  The final sentence cut me off at the knees and chopped me up into little pieces.  What must it feel like to have such a talent wielding only pen and ink?

***

Glimpses of lives being lived without relying on quirkiness.  The old-school way of doing things, a handshake versus a legal contract.  A variation on the theme of Stockholm syndrome.  A man who casts his fishing line into the water while wearing black dress shoes, those willing to give someone a hand up, neighbors helping neighbors, and a very special belt.  The 'tyranny of technology' and how the ubiquitous cell phones dominate - each text, email, tweet, etc. demanding an immediate response.  Not that any of us has ever witnessed such a thing.  Nope, not even. 

This is a book of ten stories, one of them a novella based on the author's "Serena".  I have not yet read "Serena" and will save the novella for after I have, so this review is for the nine other stories contained in this volume.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rash in one of my top five contemporary Southern authors. I have read and enjoyed, to varying degrees, his fiction, but I believe his forte, area of expertise is in short story format. In these stories, most feature a woman taking charge of her own destiny. Some are gritty, some dark, but I actually liked them all. I did of course, have a few favorites.

The first goes back to the Civil War and is titled, Neighbors. Has a surprise twist but also features a woman who must use her wits to save herself and her children.

The second favorite is titled, Baptism and could be named, Revenge us best when served cold. Again, women win the day.

The third is, Ransom and is one of the only onesthat features a man trying to get his form of justice. It does include a woman though and his another with a twisty ending.

Then we have the novella in which the indominable and evil Serena returns with her evil henchman, Galloway. Slow to start, but I loved it and the justice that plays out. If you haven't read the book, this does well as a standalone. Probably the most gritty in the book.

He is truly, imo, a true talent.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

My library finally got this in, I was first on the list, so I quickly went to retrieve it. That was Thursday. Today is Saturday, and I just turned the last page. I usually try to read short stories with some spacing in between each story, but these were like salty peanuts, I just kept going. I don't have enough superlatives to describe this, but if you are a Ron Rash fan, you need this book.

First of all, the title story is the last in the book, but I read it first because, well, Serena. It is told from the point of view of the crew who formed the Greek Chorus of sorts in Serena. A year after the events in that novel, she returns to the mountain with her henchman Galloway. Chilling and eye-popping, to say the least.

The other nine stories are all excellent, but there were two standouts.
"Ransom" and "Baptism". I know now why I have such admiration for this author. He knows how to exact revenge in the best possible way. Not sure what it says about me that I get such satisfaction from seeing characters get what's coming to them, but it stirs my soul. Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of us mild mannered readers? Apparently, Ron Rash does. He gives it to us beautifully, and we love him for it.

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow…I read two good books in a row. Finished “Sisters by a River (Barbara Comyns) on Thursday and this collection of short stories and a novella this morning.

The novella “In the Valley” is a sequel to “Serena” (2008) which I have not read. Rash gave a bare-bones sketch of who some of the characters were at the beginning of the novella, and I could figure out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys from that and while reading the rest of the novella. It was an interesting and quick read, and made me appreciate the devastating effect of “clearing the land” and “logging”. It also made me aware of why many humans have snake phobias (me included). A man gets bit by a snake and the consequences were pretty gruesome. The ending indicates to me that the author could have yet another sequel the bastard child Jacob, and his mother Rachel, might still be pursued by Selena and her one-armed henchman, Galloway .

The 9 stories preceding the novella were quite good overall. One (‘Ransom’) particularly interested me because it dealt with the opioid epidemic in the US. These are Appalachian-based stories and one area of the US particularly hard-hit by the opioid epidemic was rural Appalachia. The makers of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, are alluded to in this story (no company is explicitly named however). The precursors and what lead up to so many people becoming addicted to painkillers, and so many people dying from opioids, is complex and so frigging sad, and still going on today (although I do believe it is abating). Anyway, this story sadly but quite precisely captures the zeitgeist of the times. (I probably misused the word “zeitgeist”, but it seemed to fit for me).

Neighbors
• 4.5 stars. Previously published in Epoch (2018) and Best American Mystery Stories (2019): this didn’t seem like a mystery story to me. Maybe when I read other people’s reviews of this, I will understand why he placed history story in a collection of mystery stories. Time period in which story takes place is the Civil War.

When All the Stars Fall
• 3 stars. Previously published in Southword (2019): A young man sees how a rich man new to rural Appalachia screws over his father and him about a dock they are building, and acts on that. Not sure I got the point of this story.

Sad Man in the Sky
• 3 stars. Previously published in Bitter Southerner (2019): A helicopter pilot takes a man with a gunny sack on a helicopter ride. The contents of the gunny sack are discharged during the flight. Is that a good thing? I shan’t say. 😑

L’homme Blesse’
• 3 stars. Previously published in Ploughshares (2018): Involves paintings in a cave that an American GI comes across during WWII after horrific battles he takes part in. Time period the story takes place is the present time. Sort of meh for me. Rash introduces two disparate story lines, and I am not sure why he did that — one of the story lines goes absolutely nowhere. L’homme Blesse means ‘The Wounded Man’.

The Baptism
• 4 stars. Previously published in Southern Review and Best American Short Stories (2018): Bad man gets his comeuppance. Moral of story: don’t get baptized if you are a bad man and those attending the baptism know you are a bad man and after you are baptized they know you will continue to be a bad man. Just sayin…

Flight
• 4.5 stars. Previously published in Washington Square Review (2020): A female park ranger has a run in with a bully. But she has a Glock. 😮

Last Bridge Burned
• 5 stars. Previously published in The Masters Review (2018): A former alcoholic reluctantly helps out a woman down on her luck. Something unexpected happens to her later on…sometimes good deeds do bear fruit.

Ransom
• 5 stars. I made comments on this story about the opioid epidemic/addiction above.

The Belt
• 5 stars. Previously published in South Carolina Review (2018): I like rain and thunderstorms. After reading this story in which there is a flood (time period is early 1900s) in Tennessee “rain rain go away, come again some other day!” The belt is a good luck charm, helping out more than one character from different generations.

Reviews:
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/02/bo...
• includes an interesting interview with the author: https://southernreviewofbooks.com/202...
• https://wearetheobserver.com/ron-rash...

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🦅 🦅 🦅 🦅 🦅
Nine short stories followed by a novella continuing the story of Serena.
This was an inaugural group read with Buds & Books, and while the author doesn’t need any help with reader appreciation IMHO, the group interaction made it such a richer reading experience.

It did come up in discussion if this might be a bit spoilerish if one had not read Serena the novel first (I’m the only one who had) and I say if you plan to read Serena after the fact, then yes, a bit, because there are reveals about outcomes in the full novel which might take away some tension and expectation and this was noted by one of us after she was compelled to read it upon finishing.
The novella is bound to be appreciated more fully if you start at the beginning. Here’s what I thought.

Is there a bit of a loser in the mix?
Are politicians good and trustworthy people?

If you’re a Rash fan should you read this?
Is Serena Williams a better tennis player than Serena Pemberton?

Has Serena repented of her evil ways?
Has anyone in Washington DC done so lately?

In a collection there are always some that stand out more than others. If I compare this to his Burning Bright a star must be deducted. But then, there is the Serena connection and the overall satisfaction received in the telling and a half star gets added back but GR doesn’t allow that. What to do? It’s Ron Rash, no way but up.
This audio version was well done.

Many thanks to my reading buddies Carmel and Kathleen. As Rick said to Louis in Casablanca,
“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ron Rash's work, In the Valley, is a collection of 9 short stories and a novella. All of these stories are fast reads with great pacing. They are complex, contain well developed characters, are morally ambiguous, and have perfect endings. They showcase Rash's extraordinary prose and the beauty of Appalachia.

"Neighbors" - Set during the American Civil War, Rash reminds me of the pitfalls of tribalism, and where we could end up as a nation if we don't change course.

"When All the Stars Fall" - Written with cynicism and tenderness, Rash explores a father-son work team and their differences.

"Sad Man in the Sky" - A bittersweet tale of a man who wants to get gifts to the children of his ex girlfriend, and the man who helps deliver them.

"L'homme blesse" - IMO this is the weakest of the stories, maybe because it is the simplest. A parallel tale of a WWII soldier who felt safe among the cave paintings and recreated them at home and the story of his niece's art teacher who comes to view the paintings. Once again, Rash sticks the landing.

"The Baptism" - Where does one draw the line when dealing with an abuser?

"Flight" - Stacy, a probationary park ranger, has difficulty with a regular visitor who feels himself above the rules. Despite a caution from her boss not to provoke him, Stacy formulates a plan using an X-ACTO knife and duct tape.

"Last Bridge Burned" - When you are struggling to just make it through the day is it still possible to reach out and help someone?

"Ransom" - A brilliant and disturbing story that begins with the kidnapping of a woman college student.

"The Belt" - What begins as a day of babysitting his great grandson, quickly shifts course for Jubal as his home floods.

In the Valley - This novella is the sequel to Rash's novel Serena, which I have not read. I did read the novel summary on Wikipedia which helped me pick up the storyline; it would have been helpful to have it here in the book.
Artfully wedged in between the narrative is a cataloging of the species leaving the valley one by one as the logging progresses.
Rash combines climate fiction, an old woman who has "the sight," a strong woman out to dominate, a diabolical henchman, and a man who wants to correct course to create a spellbinding read.

This was a read for my IRL Book Club. Every single one of us loved this collection. Believe me, that's a stellar recommendation!

Publication 2020

[☮Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many Ron Rash short stories and I enjoy them even though shorts are not my favorite. They usually are dark and gritty with a few zingers thrown in for shock value or consideration. This book is composed of nine shorts plus the novella In The Valley, a continuation, and hopefully end of, the Serena story. Serena is back to clear cut one more mountainside as quickly as humanly possible, but certainly not humanely. Characters you love to hate, and who hate each other.

For me, short stories are not memorable unless tied together somehow, but there was one stand-out story I greatly enjoyed. Ransom involves a kidnapping, but money alone is not the point or the motive. Ron Rash demonstrates over and over, revenge is so sweet. Delicious in fact.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy.
Published August 4, 2020.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"And I do not mean the faith which flees the world, but the one that endures the world and that loves and remains true to the world in spite of all the suffering which it contains for us."

I was very excited to read In the Valley by Ron Rash who is one of my favourite authors. This is the second book that I read with Buds & Books Group.

Crime and punishment is a theme in many of these stories. The theme of crime and punishment often ties into the fall of someone and then the attempt for some sort of
redemption.
In an interview, Ron Rash said, "The idea of “justice” is a huge part of literature, because often literature is about when the accepted forms of justice don’t prevail, so sometimes another kind of justice comes in."

In In the valley, a standalone novella of mythic power, Rash revisits his best known character, the singular Serena Pemberton, a vindictive timber Baroness who propelled his 2008 novel, Serena, to bestseller lists nationwide, as well as to critical acclaim. Now Rash plums new depths of greed run amok as Serena returns to the North Carolina wilderness she fled after the murder of her husband to make one final effort to kill the child who threatens all she has accomplished.
Further demonstrating Rash's mastery of craft, In the Valley includes nine new stories that collectively spin a haunting allegory of our times – rapid capitalism, the severing of ties to the natural world,
the destruction of body and soul with pills meant to mute our pain. And yet with in this world Rash illuminates acts of extraordinary human decency and quiet heroism.
"A gorgeous, brutal writer" (Richard Price) working at the height of his powers, Ron Rash had created another mesmerizing look at the imperfect world around us.
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Spoiler Alert
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Here are my thoughts about some of the short stories:

Neighbors
I was tense and concerned for Rebecca and her two children, when Colonel Allen and his men arrived at her place. I feared that they would be hurt badly and perhaps even killed. I was surprised when the Colonel apologized and tried to undo any harm he and the others did. I was even more surprised when Rebecca asked them to take the hens and ham and burn down her barn. She knew that her neighbours would ostracize her if the soldiers left her place undisturbed, but they would help care for her and her children if she appeared to be the same as her neighbours.

When All the Stars Fall
Brent's dad, like my dad and my husband, trusted a person to be honest and keep his/her word. Unfortunately, sometimes they would get "burned".
I was disappointed by Brent, but feel that he is like many in today's society. Brent's father, like my father, was a good man.

Sad Man in the Sky
I felt sad for the man with the pillow of presents for the children. He realized that he made a grave mistake and hurt his family by getting hooked on drugs. Now it was too late to "pick up the pieces and carry on." But he still loved the children and wanted to express that love and have them feel loved.
I also felt sad for the helicopter pilot. He must have had to drop bombs when he was in the army. He probably had nightmares about it.
"Too many memories have gotten stirred up, including times I was in the air wondering if I'd ever see my family again. But that's not what's most on my mind. I'm thinking about those two kids and how, unlike all the other children I watched from above, they were running toward, not away from, what might rain down from the sky."

L'homme Blesse (The Wounded Man)
Shelby Tate called her former art professor Dr. Jake Yancey to look at prehistoric looking paintings her late-great-uncle Walt had painted after he returned from serving in World War II.
This interesting story inspired me to do a google search of "cave art France".
"Pech Merle is a cave which opens onto a hillside at Cabrerets in the Lot département of the Occitania region in France, about 32 km by road east of Cahors. It is one of the few prehistoric cave painting sites in France that remain open to the general public. Wikipedia"
The cave has been open to the public since 1926 and was classified as a Historical Monument in 1952.

I think, that after witnessing the suffering and deaths at Omaha Beach, great-uncle Walt felt safe in the back of Pech Merle cave, so safe, that he recreated the peaceful area in his bedroom at home.

The Baptism
"That's a mighty neighbourly way to be greeted, Gunter said, smiling as he dismounted, "especially by a man of the cloth." (Reverend Yates had a shotgun pointed at Gunter.)

"You thought you could mock God, Gunter," Marvin said, " but now God's mocking you, and he's doing it for all the world to see."

"He gave a violent shutter and fell forward, the webbed ice opening to accept the body. Gunter slowly sank. Soon the only sign of him was the water's pinkish tinge."

"After Gunter's death, the community made certain that Eliza and Pearl were cared for. Then, at 16, Pearl married Lewis Hampton, whose father owned the valley's best bottomland, ensuring Eliza as well as her daughter would never again go wanting."
In this story the neighbors looked after a widow and her child, and in the first story neighbors looked after and cared for a widow and her two children.
I liked the way this story ended - getting the reader to think about the actions and non-actions by Reverend Yates. "...on late nights he sometimes contemplated his silence when Marvin Birch offered the cocked weapon. Had his refusal to warn Gunter been a furtherance of God's will or a shunning of his own duty? Would he have held Gunter under water until he drowned, or lifted Gunter back into the mortal world? On such nights the parlour became nothing more than shadows and silence, the manse's stillness widening beyond the walls into the vastness of the whole valley."

Flight


"For Stacy, the whole idea was to flee from everyone else."

"But what mattered were the moments she forgot she had arms and legs, felt instead the gliding sensation of flight, something none of the medications had ever given her."

"Flight, but not the sparrow's flight of her childhood,...Then the bird flew, taking Stacy with it into the sky."

"Afraid. But Stacy wasn't. What she experienced first when eight years old came again – the sense of entering an expanse where nothing could touch her. Yet this was a different kind of flight, no longer away from but toward."

In "Baptism", Susanna took flight away from her abusive husband Gunter. In this short story, Stacy took flight from her abusers when she was a child, and from bullies when she was a student, but rather than fleeing from Eric Hardaway, Stacy tries and succeeds in hurting Hardaway before he can hurt her. She ensures that she is not his victim by cleverly making Hardaway her victim.

The meaning of "...no longer away from but toward" is also found in the last sentence of Sad Man in The Sky. "... unlike all the other children I watched from above, they were running toward, not away from, what might rain down from the sky."

On her last summer at the ranger academy Stacy was called "Raven". Here is how she
got the name:
"In nineteenth-century Colorado, the instructor had told them, a woman hoeing in her garden had watched a raven fly toward her, dip low as it passed overhead, and settle a few feet away. The bird performed the same action twice more. Perplexed, the woman looked around the surrounding land. She saw it then, a mountain lion hunched low in the prairie grass. She dropped her hoe and fled, barely reaching the safety of her cabin.
So what have we learned from this story? the instructor had asked. One trainee spoke of the woman's ability, learned from living close to nature, to interpret the bird's actions as a warning. Another spoke of the bird's intelligence, its creation of a way to communicate danger to humans. The instructor waited and Stacy raised her hand for the only time all term. The bird was leading the cougar to prey they could share, she told the instructor. The class was silent but the professor nodded, said Stacy was the first student who'd ever answered correctly.
Later that day, Stacy was in the lunchroom when one trainee nudged another and said, Look out, here comes the raven."

Stacy seemed to identify with the raven and may have decided that it was much better for her to take control than being prey and letting others control her.

I like to think that Clancy was trying to protect Stacy when he ordered her to not check Hardaway's license or catch and to keep her ticket pad in her pocket.

How does Stacy feel when Clancy tells her that when he writes her probation evaluation he will not be recommending to keep her?

"... she gazed at the trees and water below… Stacy raised her arms and saw wings."
When she raised her arms and saw wings, what was Stacy thinking? Was she celebrating her victory?
Was she getting ready to leap into flight?

Last Bridge Burned

"On a late night east of Nashville
My last bridge burned, my money gone
The kindness of a stranger
Showed me a way to go on."

One never knows what rippling effects are caused by our words or actions. The kindness shown to Sabrina by Carlyle set her on the road to success and changed her life in a positive way.

Ransom
In Ransom, Jennifer's father valued money and prosperity and by promoting and selling his drugs without a warning about possible addiction, destroyed lives and families.
Jim had nothing else to lose. He lost his job in the recession and he lost his wife and daughter. It was time for justice. He kidnapped Jennifer and held her captive for thirty days.

Thank you to my reading buddies Cathrine and Carmel for the engaging
interaction and enriching my experience reading In The Valley.
5 ⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of short-stories from the incredibly talented Ron Rash. Of course, if you're a fan of Serena, you'll want to get your hands on the last piece of this collection, a novella that revisits this story. I loved every piece in this collection.

[Carmel Hanes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read short story collections, but I was brought to this one by a buddy read, and I'm glad I was. Some stories resonated more than others, but all were interesting and thought (and discussion) provoking

I'm new to Rash books, but if this is an indication, I like what drives his heart and words. His stories resonate with all that's most important in life. Hard choices, gray answers, small moments overflowing with life, the tug-of-war between doing what's easy and doing what's right, surviving the ugly around us, the outcomes to the relentless pursuit of power or money, our individual and corporate culpability in creating cultures that destroy people and the world they live in.

Rash's deceptively simply told tales are like approaching a weathered tree. Solid and unremarkable until you get closer and see all the swirling details, the rough patches hidden among the smooth, the holes where something gnawed it. I reread some of the stories, knowing I'd missed some subtleties, and was rewarded for the effort.

Several stories offered a great springboard for discussion with others, as they mirror our life experiences and conundrums. Thanks for the suggestion, Kathleen! I enjoyed the novella about Serena so much I've moved on to that novel.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there's any upside to the enforced pandemic and cancellation of author visits, it's the rise of Zoom interviews that never would have taken place in the real world. Today, from Oakland, I witnessed Ron Rash, one of my favorite contemporary writers from his home in North Carolina being interviewed by Colm McCann, another favorite, who was in his New York home, in a session arranged by Powell's, a bookstore in Portland, Oregon. During an exceptionally fine exchange I learned both men (who had wine glasses in hand) were great friends and admirers of one another, and the questions and revelations were emotional and lively. As an esteemed novelist as well as poet, Rash did say that the short form was his favorite since it could be the most difficult in the choices, a fact shared also by George Saunders years ago.

Rash also revealed he did read his work out loud because "the ear often knows before the eye." This in a nutshell explains the power behind his prose. He shared that while choosing which 10 out of 18 short story possibilities to include in this collection, he tried to make the whole greater than the sum of its part, and he has succeeded mightily. It would be hard to pick a favorite, since several had twists that made me put the book down and digest -- Neighbors, L'homme Blesse, and Ransome. But that doesn't mean that the rest of the collection kept me going from page to page. I am reminded of the work of Tim Gautreaux, another writer with southern roots, whose short fiction keeps me enthralled cover to cover.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad that I had read Serena (5 stars for me) before this. The novella here continues on with Serena's story but I doubt I could have appreciated her pure evil and the other characters without the backstory.

Short stories not something I read but these all have a sense of place (Appalachia North Carolina) so that helped me enter quickly into their world. Well-crafted and thoughtful, most of them relating in some way to theme of justice, always with the natural world of the mountains present in the stories. I am not sure that I would have liked them as much if I had just stumbled across one in an anthology but here they fit together.

Ron Rash is a new favorite author for me & I look forward to reading more of his books.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stuff: have to read Serena now (do everything back to front, me)! A present (thanks Ryan).

[Claire Fullerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you'd hope for from Ron Rash is within this collection of short stories-- his trademark, laser-sharp realism, poetic prose, and fully realized Appalachian vignettes of life wrapped in tight construction. All short stories are hymns to the art of world-building, rich in visceral setting and written with vernacular that sets the mood and tone. Simply put, Ron Rash is a league of his own, and this highly anticipated, critically acclaimed book is on par with all others in his stellar body of work.

[John of Canada · Rating 5 out of 5]

People do not get any scarier than Serena and Galloway.Ron Rash does his usual remarkable descriptions of the flora and fauna of the setting.All the stories in the book had me thinking.A bonus was Rash answering readers questions and offering comments.You should follow Ron Rash and buy all of his books.

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew, that last line.

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ron Rash never ceases to surprise me with his ability to create stories and novels that breach time and subject. This book of short stories and a novella about Serena, a continuation of his novel, is excellent. They go from the Civil War period to the present and many deal with interpersonal dynamics.

Neighbors is about a Civil War Widow who has a surprise for the Confederate soldiers who come knocking at her door, intent to take her food supplies and burn down her barn. When All the Stars Fall From the Sky deals with irreconcilable differences between father and son, a generational situation that is resolved in an extraordinary way. In Sad Man in the Sky, Rash examines the mistaken judgments we make about people and the humanity that lies even in peculiar circumstances. Outsider art is the subject of L'Homme Blesse, along with the trauma that preceded its creation. The Baptism is a powerful story about a batterer whose first wife has run from him and he is now determined to marry her younger sister. He goes to the minister and asks for a baptism. The minister deals with his moral code to make his decision. Flight is one of my favorites. A young female park ranger is faced with a bullying man who does not want to obey the law. She has had a series of psychiatric issues and despite her supposed fragility she stands tall and strong in this situation. Last Bridge Burned is about a man in recovery who is locking up his small store when a bedraggled woman comes knocking. He lets her in and later finds out a surprising truth. Addiction looms large in ransom, a story about the kidnapping of a college girl whose family is well-off. Her kidnapper treats her moderately well but starts her on a path of no return.

Serena, the novella, had me enchanted despite my abhorrence of many of the characters. Serena has continued to run the logging company with an iron will after Pemberton's death. There is a saying in the bible - and eye for an eye. There is a counter saying - if you adhere to an eye for an eye, ultimately everyone will go blind. Serena doesn't care if everyone goes blind as long as she has her rattlesnake catching eagle and her horse to ride on. Any betrayals, real or perceived, are met with severe punishment, including death. She continues to look for Pemberton's illegitimate child and its mother, hoping to find and kill them both. Meanwhile she has stripped the area of trees, causing almost all wildlife to depart. The land is barren and unwelcoming.

Rash writes poetically about the land and is able to provide a sense of place - colors, scents, wildlife, plants and trees. It is obvious that he loves the environment and his pen gives it a life of its own. He sees the uniqueness of the human condition and the surprises that confront us in many situations. I loved this book and am looking forward to his next one.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 of the Tick Illness Hospital Stay / Worst Vacation Resort Ever.

I probably would have enjoyed this even more if I wasn't in the middle of having a fairly painful IV Infiltration that I figured out was just par for the course for having an IV needle shoved in your arm. Nope. Do you know what's worse than the Infiltration as it's leaking into your arm? The needles they will then stick into the very sore spot so your tissue doesn't die. Fun facts!

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I thought there was no way I could become even more of a Ron Rash fan than I already was, he writes another drop-dead perfect book that just takes my breath away. It helps of course, that I love the people and the land of Western North Carolina, where his stories are set, but I truly believe you would never have had to set foot in that region to be moved to your core by his stories. While the stories are local, their themes are universal.

I also love his his preferred mode of writing, the short story. In a short story, every word has to carry at least its own weight and often more than. Rash is a master of that. His stories are spare, but not lacking in detail or color. And because there is no excess verbiage to protect you, a gut-wrenching story (the type he writes best and most often) will be felt to your very core.

This book is a collection of 9 short stories (covering a wide range of topics and time) plus a novella continuing the story he began in his earlier book Serena. I so admire how perfectly Rash captures the feel of the land and the voice of the people he describes. It reflects a remarkable combination of loving respect for his subjects with an unflinching and often uncomfortable honesty.

My only complaint about this book is my own inability to slow down and savor it as one should something that has so clearly been carefully crafted over time. Instead, I gorged on it and far too quickly devoured it, reveling in the stories, the bigger themes, and my emotional response to them. The saving grace, however, is that although I am generally not one to reread a book, I would happily make an exception with this book, perhaps slowing down to truly enjoy each and every word the second time around.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title indicates this book includes a number of short stories, as well as a novella. This book was published in 2020 and I experienced it in the audible format, while following along somewhat with the e-book. It has been a while since I have read, and a Ron Rash. he still seems to be as good as I recall from my past experience with him.

The story is mostly focus on an earlier time in life dating back to the Civil War days but the early half of the 20th century is also included. I thought that all of the stories were good or better at the very least. it was not hard for me to give this book 5 stars, and to say that Ron Rash is holding up quite well.

I am not going to repeat any of the stories. And will only add that if you have read and liked Ron Rash, previously, you will probably like this book. It is not a long book, and all of the stories are relatively brief, even the novella that concludes the book .

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of short stories.





Library Loan

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Rash at his best. I don't know if we have many better writers.

[H. P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ron Rash is a master of the short story, but a reader’s conclusion on In the Valley will depend on the title story, a novella set in the world of and featuring the title character from Serena that takes up half the volume.

I am not the target audience, to the extent it is possible for me to not be the target audience for a Rash work. Serena remains my least favorite Rash novel, and any attempt at another story featuring Serena is handicapped by the novel telling the end of her story. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised by In the Valley, and it is well accompanied by the preceding stories.

In the Valley sees Serena returning from Brazil to her final North Carolina holding. A contract says the equipment will be ready (and loaded!) by a seemingly insurmountable deadline. And there is other unfinished business with George Pemberton’s bastard son.

Rash wisely uses the deadline to get the last of the timber cleared from the ridgeline to create drama and executes ably. I also like that Galloway’s mother plays a significant role. One of the things I liked about Serena is that it is the rare Rash tale with a clear supernatural element. The other thing Rash did I really like is to intersperse chapters with short descriptions of the animals fleeing the destruction of the clear cut.

All of the stories in this volume, I believe, are set in the mountains of North Carolina, Rash’s most common setting. The time frames range from the close of the Civil War to the present, again in keeping with Rash’s prior work. The standout works are L’homme Blessé, about a young college professor still trying to process his wife’s death, and The Belt, about a Civil War veteran trying to squeeze one last bit of luck out of his lucky belt buckle as the river rises (a common Rash motif).

Table of Contents
Neighbors
When All the Stars Fall from the Sky
Sad Man in the Sky
L’homme Blessé
The Baptism
Flight
Last Bridge Burned
Ransom
The Belt
In the Valley (novella)

Disclosure: I received a complimentary, advance copy of In the Valley from the publisher.

[Terry Tessar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved Ron Rash’s writing!

[Marley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Serena but this first story was too stressful for me: confrontations, disputes...I want a little more escape not reality and bad people. Writing was great as always.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of 2020! Ron Rash is one of my favorite authors.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ron Rash is best known for his bestseller Serena (Macbeth transplanted to Appalachia). It grew out of his earlier short story ‘Pemberton’s Bride.’ This collection closes the circle with Serena’s return in the closing novella of this collection.

My favourite stories were ‘Ransom’, ‘The Baptism’ and the wonderful opener ‘Neighbors.’ The latter is a wondrously subtle piece of historical fiction with a well-executed twist. Rash handles the past very well - and one of his favourite themes is the Möbius strip of time, especially in civil-war haunted North Carolina. It’s a trait he shares with writers from the Orkney Islands - and it was the Orcadian poet Edwin Muir who supplied the title of Rash’s first novel.

Not that Rash can’t write about the present with conviction. Unlike certain memoirists, his Appalachia is filled with people, not stereotypes. One of the most sympathetically drawn characters in the book is a bereaved parent turned kidnapper. It’s refreshing to see an American author who sets his fiction outside New York or the college campus.

I only hope Canongate, the Edinburgh-based firm that publishes his work, finally brings out his poetry too.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Valley: Stories and a Novella Based on Serena by Ron Rash (Doubleday 2020) (Fiction) (3464).

Ron Rash is a master storyteller; he is at his best in the short story form. His new book In the Valley: Stories and a Novella Based on Serena proffers a collection of all new short stories. It includes a novella also titled "In the Valley" which features the return of one of his most memorable characters: Serena Pemberton.

Rash's stories are uniformly set in the mountain wilds of western North Carolina. The characters that people his stories are convincing products of this often backwards region. I love the area, and I love Ron Rash's writing.

My rating: 7.25/10, finished 9/21/20 (3464).