ISBN-13: 9781463527655 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 504 str.
Why would anyone born into the dirty, steep mountains, and deep dark hollows of the coal fields of the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia, NOT want to leave? Alma Woodson was born and grew up in Buchanan County of Southwest Virginia in a small coal mining community called Oakwood, Virginia. She did spend her teenage years waiting for the day she could escape. After graduating from Garden High School, she did exactly that, and she and her sister Janice moved to Washington D.C. where she discovered the thrill and convenience of the big cities. Working in politics brought her into contact with powerful and influential people, including presidents. Years later, her parents died, after living decades on a hillside farm along the banks of Little Garden Creek, in a deep hollow where the winter sun didn't shine. To Alma, it reminded her of a grave itself. With her father's passing, she finds herself, being the oldest sibling, named executor of the estate. She has to give up her world travels to return to Buchanan County, temporarily, to settle the estate. There, she discovers in his files, mysteries and stories that has to be investigated, including why Oakwood used to be called Hanger, Virginia. Her younger sister Krista tries to convince her to retire and move back home and 'rediscover her roots'. Can Alma abandon the glamorous and convenient life of the Nation's capital and move back to the coalfields of Hanger?