Written with the wisdom and grace devoted readers have come to expect from the award-winning author of The Virgin of Small Plains, here is a brilliantly moving tale of family, murder, and redemptive love.

Rose, Kansas, is a quiet town poised between the orderly and the unpredictable, where a terrible secret lies long dormant. . .until it vengefully stirs to life one fateful day. Young English teacher Jody Linder wakes up one morning to find her three intimidating rancher uncles on her doorstep. They bring shocking news: Billy Crosby, the man convicted of murdering her father--and presumably her mother's killer as well--is being released from prison and coming back to Rose with his son, Collin, an attorney. Convinced of his father's innocence, Collin provokes Jody to face the stunnig mystery behind her tragic past. Enthralling, surprising, and beautifully textured, The Scent of Rain and Lightning blurs the boundaries between suspense and literary fiction.