Thriller

It is 1940 and a tragedy sends two young children, Lou and her little brother Oz, along with their invalid mother, from New York City to the rugged mountains of Southwestern Virginia to live with their great-grandmother Louisa Mae Cardinal. The story is told with both heart-breaking elegance and large doses of touching humor as the lives of Lou and Oz are forever changed. The portraits of the land and its people are described with an extraordinary eye for detail, and the story flows through swells of prejudice, innocence, greed, faith, and the question of whether one can ever really wish another well. The climactic courtroom battle is as unpredictable as it is relentless and will not only decide the fates of Lou, Oz, and their mother, but also all who have been touched by them. There are over 2.5 million copies of David Baldaccis hardcover titles in print combined. After a phenomenal hardcover debut with Absolute Power (Warner, 1996), which reached #2 on both The New York Times and Wall Street Journals bestseller lists, Baldaccis subsequent thrillers have all been New York Times bestsellers. His latest hardcover, Saving Faith (Warner, 11/99), reached #2 on the Times list and #1 on the Publishers Weekly list. The Simple Truth (1998) and The Winner (1997) were Main Selections of Book-of-the-Month Club. Total Control was a Main Selection of The Literary Guild and of Doubleday Book Club.