Greasewood Creek
Avery is just a child when her younger sister dies, followed closely by her father’s desertion and her mother’s slide into alcoholism. Surrounded by family and friends, she is able to stay and grow up on the Oregon ranch where she was born. As an adult, she finds constancy there but cannot escape the guilt she feels over her sister’s death. She hopes for happiness, finally, in the child she is expecting with her life partner, Davis, but when their newborn son dies, the same forces of grief that tore apart her childhood once again engulf her. Avery’s inability to escape the past is palpable in this fragmented narrative that mixes the present with flashbacks to her childhood and teen years, and Steele’s poetic style brings the beautiful Oregon ranch setting to life. Steele depicts the depression, grief, and guilt of living after a loss with expert clarity, making this a powerful and faithful story of finding the inner strength to move forward and be reborn. --Cortney Ophoff