In the summer of 1974, twenty-four year old Anna DeVoss finds herself widowed and alone in the unfamiliar country of the North Carolina mountains. The body of her husband, a navy pilot missing in action for six years, has just been returned home from Vietnam. Following his funeral her mother in law persuades her to spend some time alone at the family’s summer home in Watauga County, North Carolina, in what becomes a summer of discovery for Anna.

Download EPub

UNC Press Print on Demand

This Asheville Citizen-Times article featuring Leo Finkelstein reports on the life of a pawnbroker, including bizarre items (such as a stuffed bear), rich clients who pay interest just to keep their winter coats safe over the summer, con artists, and a minister who scraped by pawning his Bible every Monday and retrieving it every Saturday evening.