Ron Rash's roots are in the hills of western North Carolina, his ancestral home and the place where much of his fiction is set. $26.99, 255 pages. Fri 16 Mar 2012 18.55 EDT First published on Fri 16 Mar 2012 18.55 EDT. 8 likes. This lyrical, heart-rending tale, as mesmerizing as its award-winning predecessor Serena, shows once again this masterful novelist at the height of his powers. Rash’s fifth novel made The New York Times Best Seller list. Although prejudice is not the sole theme of The Cove, it is a significant one, since the novel shows how little we've changed since World War I. The Cove (2012) is a novel by American writer Ron Rash. Its themes include … tags: marriage. Deep in the rugged Appalachians of North Carolina lies the cove, a dark, forbidding place where spirits and fetches wander, and even the light fears to travel. Ecco. Dead in the ground at least gave you the hope of heaven.” ― Ron Rash, The Cove. 9 likes. Ron Rash’s new novel is set in the most American of settings: Appalachia. This lyrical, heart-rending tale, as mesmerizing as its award-winning predecessor Serena, shows once again this masterful novelist at the height of his powers. The Cove by Ron Rash My rating: 5 of 5 stars Lush prose, well-drawn characters, and a tightly-woven plot all characterize Ron Rash's THE COVE, the story of Laurel Shelton, who lives in the Cove, an isolated area in the North Carolina mountains. Like “Dead and still in the world was worse than dead and in the ground. tags: death, heaven, inspirational. Ron Rash believes that “almost all of the great books are regional books.” What, he asks, “could be more regional than James Joyce’s Ulysses,” which unfolds during a 24-hour ramble through Dublin, Ireland, on June 16, 1904?. ... theme, and mood, is unflattering. True, we may have signed elaborate laws and designated special holidays for those of us treated unfairly, but in our day-to-day life, we've lived history differently, mainly because of our stubborn generational brainwashing. Rash captures the essence of Appalachia in stories that simplify the most basic of human relationships. Ron Rash. Ron Rash (born September 25, 1953), an American poet, ... Fleshes out the characters and themes of Raising the Dead. ― Ron Rash, The Cove. Set in 1918, it follows the story of a recently orphaned young woman meeting a mute man, falling for him, and ending in tragedy. Or so the townsfolk of Mars Hill believe–just as they know that Laurel Shelton, the lonely young woman who lives within its shadows, is a witch. Ron Rash invests this dark, forlorn place with such spooky animus that his new novel, “The Cove,” ought to treat “Cove” as a proper noun.