Vera Violet

Set against the backdrop of a decaying Pacific Northwest lumber town, Vera Violet is a debut that explores themes of poverty, violence, and environmental degradation as played out in the young lives of a group of close-knit friends. Melissa Anne Peterson's voice is powerful and poetic, her vision unflinching.Vera Violet recounts the dark story of a rough group of teenagers growing up in atwisted rural logging town. There are no jobs. There is no sense of safety. But thereis a small group of loyal friends, a truck waiting with the engine running, a pair ofboots covered in blood, and a hot 1911 pistol with a pearl grip. Vera Violet O'Neel's home is in the Pacific Northwest-not the glamorous scene of coffeebars and craft beers, but the hardscrabble region of busted pickups and broken dreams. Vera'smother has left, her father is unstable, and her brother is deeply troubled. Against this grittybackground, Vera struggles to establish a life of her own, a life fortified by her friends andher hard-won love. But the relentless poverty coupled with the twin lures of crystal meth andeasy money soon shatter fragile alliances. Her world violently torn apart, Vera flees to St. Louis, Missouri. There, alone in a smallapartment, she grieves for her broken family, her buried friends, and her beloved, JimmyJames Blood. In this brilliant, explosive debut, Melissa Anne Peterson establishes herself asa fresh, raw voice, a writer to be reckoned with."e;Vera Violet is the most authentic and exciting debut I've read in a long time. At once gritty and jaw-droppingly lyrical, Peterson's voice is a clarion call for the downtrodden and disenchanted. Reading Vera Violet is nothing less than a visceral and stirring experience."e; -Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy