In this poetic and haunting tale set in contemporary Appalachia, New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash illuminates lives shaped by violence and a powerful connection to the land. Les, a long-time sheriff just three-weeks from retirement, contends with the ravages of crystal meth and his own duplicity in his small Appalachian town. Becky, a park ranger with a harrowing past, finds solace amid the lyrical beauty of this patch of North Carolina. Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have indelibly marked them, they are drawn together by a reverence for the natural world. When an irascible elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream, Les and Becky are plunged into deep and dangerous waters, forced to navigate currents of disillusionment and betrayal that will force them to question themselves and test their tentative bond—and threaten to carry them over the edge. Echoing the heartbreaking beauty of William Faulkner and the spiritual isolation of Carson McCullers, Above the Waterfall demonstrates once again the prodigious talent of “a gorgeous, brutal writer” (Richard Price) hailed as “one of the great American authors at work today” (Janet Maslin, New York Times).

Nothing else comes so I set the notebook beside me. What else is here? I ask myself and listen. This section of stream purls and riffles amid small stones. What word might be made for what I hear . . . Above the Waterfall is the story of Sheriff Les Clary. A man on the verge of retirement, he is plunged into deep and dangerous waters by one final case. A case that will draw him to the lyrical beauty of his surroundings and, in doing so, force him to come to terms with his own past. Echoing the heartbreaking beauty of William Faulkner and the spiritual isolation of Michel Faber, Above the Waterfall is as poetic as it is haunting.

In this poetic and haunting tale set in contemporary Appalachia, New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash illuminates lives shaped by violence and a powerful connection to the land. Les, a long-time sheriff just three weeks from retirement, contends with the ravages of crystal meth and his own duplicity in his small Appalachian town. Becky, a park ranger with a harrowing past, finds solace amid the lyrical beauty of this patch of North Carolina. Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have indelibly marked them, they are drawn together by a reverence for the natural world. When an irascible elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream, Les and Becky are plunged into deep and dangerous waters, forced to navigate currents of disillusionment and betrayal that will force them to question themselves and test their tentative bond—and threaten to carry them over the edge. Echoing the heartbreaking beauty of William Faulkner and the spiritual isolation of Carson McCullers, Above the Waterfall demonstrates once again the prodigious talent of 'one of the great American authors at work today' (Janet Maslin, New York Times). Ron Rash has long been a critically acclaimed writer, but his seventh book, Serena, catapulted him to new heights: it garnered rave reviews and became a New York Times bestseller. A PEN/Faulkner finalist for Serena, Rash is also a recipient of the O Henry Prize and winner of the 2011 Frank O’Connor Award for Burning Bright, a collection of short stories. His other work includes the novels One Foot in Eden and The Cove, and another short story collection, Nothing Gold Can Stay. Ron Rash teaches at Western Carolina University and lives in the Appalachian Mountains, South Carolina. His latest book is Above the Waterfall. ‘One of the great American authors at work today.’ New York Times ‘Combining suspense with acute observations and flashing insights, Rash tells a seductive and disquieting tale about our intrinsic attachment to and disastrous abuse of the land and our betrayal of our best selves.’ STARRED Review, Booklist ‘Rash’s widely celebrated style lends his Southern Gothic–tinged books a suppleness that verges on prose poetry and, in the case of his new novel, elevates a small-town noir story.’ Publishers Weekly ‘Superb...Rash is an enormously gifted storyteller, who knows exactly how to keep the dramatic tension in his fiction...He’s one of the few writers at work today with the insight, the talent and the vision to show us how sometimes, for all our sorry shortcomings, we’re able to achieve a certain redemption through our capacity for kindness and decency.’ Washington Post ‘One of the many things that I admire about [Rash’s] writing is his ability to take both you and his characters to the edge of what you think you and they can bear, and then he takes you all further. He’s just so good at creating atmosphere and tension.’ Readings

Vivid, harrowing yet ultimately hopeful, The World Made Straight is Ron Rash's subtlest exploration yet of the painful conflict between the bonds of home and the desire for independence. NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING NOAH WYLE, JEREMY IRVINE, MINKA KELLY, ADELAIDE CLEMENS, STEVE EARLE, AND HALEY JOEL OSMENT. "ONE OF THE MAJOR WRITERS OF OUR TIME."—THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders into the woods onto private property outside his North Carolina hometown, discovers a grove of marijuana large enough to make him some serious money, and steps into the jaws of a bear trap. After hours of passing in and out of consciousness, Travis is discovered by Carlton Toomey, the wise and vicious farmer who set the trap to protect his plants, and Travis's confrontation with the subtle evils within his rural world has begun. Before long, Travis has moved out of his parents' home to live with Leonard Shuler, a one-time schoolteacher who lost his job and custody of his daughter years ago, when he was framed by a vindictive student. Now Leonard lives with his dogs and his sometime girlfriend in a run-down trailer outside town, deals a few drugs, and studies journals from the Civil War. Travis becomes his student, of sorts, and the fate of these two outsiders becomes increasingly entwined as the community's terrible past and corrupt present bear down on each of them from every direction, leading to a violent reckoning—not only with Toomey, but with the legacy of the Civil War massacre that, even after a century, continues to divide an Appalachian community.

“...the authors provide very sound and realistic advice for the types of projects envisaged, not necessarily only IT projects. For readers in senior positions, the book provides a good read and actionable advice and templates for advancing the cause of the enterprise at its upper levels. After all, as the authors observe, ‘The next decade of digital business will see continued pressure for organizations to react quickly to changing conditions in the economy, market, and competition’.” —R. Max Wideman, Fellow, PMI Every year technology projects face hard decisions about how to mitigate risk and address challenges as teams work on creating useful solutions to deliver promised business value. Those decisions impact scope at every step and help to evolve it until the final product is delivered and implemented. Scope can longer be set in stone! This book will help project teams understand how and when scope changes and evolves as a part of a living-development process by answering the ultimate question: “Are we doing the right things the right way?” Going Beyond the Waterfall explains how to define scope at the outset of a project. It provides a solid model for predicting and managing solution scope across a project life cycle where the decisions and actions of every team member contribute to that evolutionary process. In addition, it identifies the impacts that key tasks and activities will have on scope and how each can be managed effectively to prevent unnecessary scope creep and reduce run-away projects.

Magic and transformation in the beauty of a Ukrainian village For seven-year-old Angela, happiness is exploring the verdant countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her imagination carries her into the spirits of passing birds, into the breath of the wind, into the leaves of her springtime garden. Everything changes when, one morning, she spies her mother crying. As she tries to find out what lies behind the sadness, she is drawn on an extraordinary journey into the secrets of her family, and her parent’s fateful choices. Can Angela lead her mother back to happiness before her innocence is destroyed by the shadows of a dark past? Beautiful, poetic and richly sensory, this is a tale that will haunt and lift its readers. "A strange and beautiful novel" - Esther Freud, author of Mr Mac and Me, Hideous Kinky, Peeless Flats "Readers looking for a classic tale of love and loss will be rewarded with an intoxicating world" - Kirkus Reviews "Rich and poetic in detail, it is an often dreamy, oneiric narrative rooted in an exaltation of nature... A lovely novel" - IndieReader "A literary work of art" – Richmond Magazine

This is an addicts owner's manual. It is truly, a blueprint for recovery. It is a practical description of addiction and what must be done to recover. Whether the struggle is drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, or any other sexual addiction, it is all covered in this book.