Dorothy Garlock's novels have won her acclaim from the Chicago Sun-Times as a "gifted storyteller" and praise from readers as a truth-teller about America and its people. Now in her hardcover debut, the USA Today bestselling author begins her new saga of the Midwest in the 1920s with the heartwarming story of the Jones family, who meet life's incredible challenges with bravery, humor, and zest. Julie Jones knows what she is: a country girl, not beautiful but presentable, in skirts too long to be fashionable. A responsible young woman who has been raising her brothers and sisters since her mother's death and helping her father on their hardscrabble farm. She's not exactly the free, giggly flapper the town boys fancy. Secretly, she wishes someone she could love would find her special enough to come courting.
But as the country roars into the Jazz Age, neither her family nor the town of Fertile, Missouri, can remain untouched. Veterans have returned from the Great War, among them big, quiet Evan Johnson, the enigmatic son of the town bully. Crime has risen enough to warrant the town's hiring Corbin Appleby as police chief, a stranger on a manhunt of his own. And, via the train from points south, comes flirty Birdie Stuart, looking for a new man to take care of her.
Before the summer fades into golden autumn, tensions explode. A series of rapes sends fear rippling through the town, and Birdie's schemes threaten to tear Julie's family apart. Then Evan Johnson, who has been trying to win Julie's heart, is suddenly charged with murder.
Packed with dynamic tension, and textured by Garlock's inimitable "grit-between-the-toes feel for time and place" (Minneapolis Star), The Edge of Town will touch your heart with its realism, warmth, and honest depiction of a young woman's awakening to the power of love.
