In this “ bittersweet fantastical “ must-read debut (Publishers Weekly) a freak car crash in 1960s rural North Carolina puts in motion moments of grace that bring redemption to two generations of women and the lives they touch. “ There’ s more than one aching heart in this excellent story exploring the generational effects of love, loss, betrayal, and redemption.” — Southern Literary Review, September Read of the Month For forty years Aurilla Cutter has tended a clutch of secrets that have turned her mean. A fatal accident becomes the catalyst for the release of the passions, needs, and hurts in everyone affected by her hidden past. Darlene, a seventeen-year-old widow, struggles to reconnect with her dead husband while proving herself alive. Soon loss and death work their magic, drawing Darlene into an unlikely affair that threatens to upend Aurilla’ s family, and sets loose Aurilla’ s own memories of longing and infidelity. Loving the Dead and Gone is a lyrical novel that explores how both grief and love are the ties that bind.