Small-town suspicion takes on the tangible shape of sin when Cain and his young sister try and keep a cat a secret. Goat Alley faces the trailer park one side and rentals on the other. Bobbi’s friend is small fry in these neighbourhood backyards where the king any particular day is the oldest kid in charge whose family doesn’t rent. Rachel and Beck visit their grandfather’s Nebraska farm, via Sam’s Liquor Store, with picking out some souvenirs – and a little something else – on their mind.

Maybe I should have forgiven him. He looked so sorry standing there with that bloody wash cloth in his hand and his touch was so soft it felt like love. But when I turned around and gingerly pulled my shirt down he said, ‘Don’t tell Dad.’ Just because it feels like love, doesn’t mean it is.Karen Gettert Shoemaker’s writing is lyrical, rhythmic and weighted with fine imagery. The scales of her compassion are firmly tipped on the side of the vulnerable.

Karen Gettert Shoemaker is an award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work – including poetry - is widely published and anthologised in America. She is a native of Nebraska and continues to live and teach there.