"Bottomland does for Franklin what Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil did for Savannah--it reveals the Gothic side of a quiet, picturesque Southern town."
Based on actual events, Bottomland is the story of the murder of a young woman in Franklin, Tennessee. Set in 1953, it explores the social mores of the town itself and the personalities of all involved, from the townspeople, to the police, to the killers.
Told from the perspective of a 17-year-old high school senior who has just fallen in love for the first time, Bottomland reflects Franklin's...

The Air We Breathe begins at a rest stop outside of Memphis during the first night of Maggie and her children's four-day journey across Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, on their way to Mexico. From place to place, person to person, they move. All the time Maggie hopes for kindness that will take her a few miles further, and keeps the secret of what she has done from her children and new acquaintances.
In the quiet, still moments of her travels, she recounts her own childhood, as well as the few days that led up to the event from which she is fleeing. As Maggie covers mile...