I’m not quite sure where I first heard about Ron Rash’s historical novel, Serena, but it has been on my ‘to read’ list for several months and just a few weeks ago, my reading mood finally settled on it and I checked out a copy from the library. Set in the 1930s, it tells the story of George Pemberton and his bride, Serena, a mysterious woman who he met in Boston, married and has now brought her back to the logging camp he co-owns in western North Carolina. The opening scenes depict a killing and the violence brought on by these two escalates from there as they cut down anyone who gets in the way of their insatiable appetite for each other as well as for power and wealth – and the ancient hardwoods of the forest that provide both.

In their way is the local girl and her son (a baby fathered by George prior to his marriage), the local sheriff who refuses to be bought or back down, and the people involved in the growing movement to make a sizable portion of the forest a protected national park. These, plus anyone else who attempts to deny Serena what she wants, are in mortal danger and face the consequences of her wrath.

It is Serena’s lack any redeemable human emotion that quickly makes her into a fearsome but also unbelievable character, yet the story is also so compelling that I found myself engrossed in the book from the opening pages. I kept hoping to find some answer to her depravity but none was forthcoming – I finished the book even more repulsed by her actions but also just as bewildered as to why she was who she was. And after finding myself captivated by the story, the epilogue was a disappointing and contrived finale. Yet strangely, no more so than the rest of the book when I think about it. So my feelings about the novel are mixed and I honestly can’t say after all that whether I liked it or not. I suppose, for me, Serena was just as enigmatic as its eponymous character.