This Rock

This novel follows two brothers, Muir and Moody Powell, in 1920s Appalachia. The brothers are starkly different: Muir is shy and ambitious, while Moody, the older sibling, has grown bitter following their father's death and harbors jealousy toward his younger brother. Moody turns to moonshine and gambling, directing his anger at Muir, who responds by leaving to search for purpose and opportunity elsewhere. Their mother, Ginny, attempts to guide both sons while grappling with her own losses—her deceased husband, her youth, and the religious conviction that once shaped her life. When Muir, during a drunken vision, becomes convinced his calling is to build a stone church by hand on a hillside, his decision sets off consequences that ripple through the community. Men die, the community fractures, and the family is permanently altered. The novel explores what remains after these events: memories and ghosts of the man Muir becomes.