At first I hope for rescue

Based in the fictional small town of Ruth, British Columbia, but spanning the globe from France to California, five liked stories perfectly capture the drama that lurks beneath the surface of everyday life. The people in this town are unforgettable, and the moral dilemmas and crises they face are rooted in behavior that is sometimes shocking, and sometimes shockingly familiar. Here we meet two lifelong friends, Bet Harker and Nan Carmichael, whose lives are ripped apart by the discovery of incest in one of their families. We check into the ramshackle Road's End Resort and watch the transformation that Janette, a woman struggling to keep custody of her child, brings to the resort's young and aimless owner, Matthew Fauler. We follow Rozzy Wanaker, a troubled seventeen-year-old, as she makes her way from Santa Barbara to visit her Aunt Nan. These characters, and others, appear, reappear, and crisscross through the stories. Some find their lives dusted with hope and redemption; others are not so easily saved.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.