A SMALL HARVEST OF PRETTY DAYS

In 1890s Pennsylvania, Clara Waltz is returning home one winter morning from visiting ailing Mrs. Snyder. She encounters a drunken man who, along with four others, had gang-raped her eleven years prior. Terrified, she flees, hiding in a partially fallen tree. From her hiding place she sees another man, a ragged stranger, appear from the river’s frozen edge. A struggle ensues. When all has quieted, Clara crawls out to find the rapist and his horse have been killed. The stranger is gone.

Clara becomes a suspect with the discovery of yet another body. He also was one she had steadfastly accused of raping her. Then an aging drifter comes to the farm where Clara and her illegitimate daughter live as domestic help to a prominent farm family. Clara recognizes him as the stranger from the river’s edge, and in time, finds herself drawn to him, in spite of believing him to be the killer.

This first-person narrative is told through Clara's voice as an older woman as a legacy to her children. It's a tale of abuse and murder, but ultimately a tale of love and hope.