Muriel Mharie Macleod

A missing child, a buried tin of coins, and a terrible secret -- these lie at the heart of Muriel Macleod's powerful first novel set deep in the back country of early-20th-century Louisiana, where lawlessness still reigns and the voodoo curses and charms of the old ways hold sway. Here eight-year-old Arletta lives with her family in an isolated shack in the woods. Sometimes she sees the white men walking down the track toward her home and knows to...