"If a Eudora Welty Morgana story married a García Márquez Macondo tale, their offspring would be a story by Peter Neofotis." —Mary Gordon, New York Times –bestselling author "In the places set between folds in the Earth, voices echo against mountains . . ." So begins the story of Concord, Virginia, one of those places set between folds in the Earth. It's a place like almost any other Southern town, filled with self-righteous preachers, descendants of slaves, upstanding town leaders, and the ladies of the local bridge club. But Concord has something else: a dark heart. A church has been abandoned. Vultures have been roosting in the trees at George MacJenkins's house. Poisonous snakes follow Rachel Stetson into the river for a swim. And the ghost of Thomas Jefferson has recently spoken through a man chained to fate. Deftly spinning a web of stories from the voices of the town, Peter Neofotis creates a captivating portrait—comic, dramatic, bombastic, and tragic—of a place trapped in time and possessed by the valley landscape that surrounds it. In the tradition of great Southern gothic writing, Peter Neofotis brings to life the town of Concord, Virginia, allowing even the ancient voices there to swirl through the glazed brick streets like the Fork River. This collection of short stories is a pulse-raising debut by a writer who has created a place the reader will never forget. "The Southern Gothic genre is marvelously reincarnated in these beguiling stories . . . Eerily magnificent." —John Townsend, The Star Tribune "Neofotis smartly captures a sometimes creepy, sometimes beautiful corner of Americana." — Publishers Weekly