Scandal forces a young woman into a hurried marriage of convenience with a childhood admirer, now a widower with a young son.
She travels to his remote farm on Galveston Island, Texas, where her city manners are out of place, where her husband's son is grieving for his dead mother and his housekeeper is struggling to contain her unrequited love.
Ann Weisgarber's writing is so powerful that you can feel the heat, smell the salt water on the bayou.
The Galveston storm of 1900 that killed 8,000 people really happened.
I can't remember when I last read a novel that conveyed such a strong sense of place, unless it was by Willa Cather.
It's worth visiting Ann Weisgarber's excellent website where you can see photographs of the aftermath of the hurricane and listen to the music that runs through the book.
I would also highly recommend her first book The Personal History of Rachel Dupree.