Kim Michele Richardson

Godpretty in the Tobacco Field Kim Michele Richardson

Atmospheric and searingly honest, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field is Coal Miners Daughter meets Winters Bone in a gripping tale of tender love and lossNameless, Kentucky, in 1969 is a hardscrabble community where jobs are few and poverty is a simple fact—just like the hot Appalachian breeze or the pests that can wipe out a tobacco field in days. RubyLyn Bishop is luckier than some. Her God-fearing uncle, Gunnar, has a short fuse and high expectations, but hes given her a good home ever since she was orphaned at the age of five. Yet now, a month shy of her sixteenth birthday, RubyLyn itches for more. Maybe its something to do with the paper fortune-tellers RubyLyn has been making for townsfolk, each covered with beautifully wrought, prophetic drawings. Or perhaps its because of Rainey Ford, an African American neighbor who works alongside her in the tobacco field, and with whom she has a kinship, despite her uncles worrisome shadow and the towns disapproval. RubyLyns predictions are just wishful thinking, not magic at all, but through them shes imagining life as it could be, away from the prejudice and hardship that ripple through Nameless.