In the Valley by Ron Rash

The title of this book is also the title of the novella contained within it along with nine short stories. The title novella, “In the Valley,” returns the reader to the story of Serena Pemberton, the protagonist of Rash’s novel that enjoyed the greatest commercial success, Serena. It made the New York Times best-seller lists and became a Hollywood movie. The nine stories are also an attraction of this book. After all, Rash won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award for Nothing Gold Can Stay, as the best collection in the English language that year!  His story collection, Chemistry and Other Stories, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. The stories here include one chosen for The Best American Short Stories of 2018 and another chosen for The Best American Mystery Stories, 2019. “Mesmerizing...In the Valley takes Serena to such a fever pitch of destruction that in a lesser writer's hands it might seem overheated. But Rash maintains the deep keel that has always dis