Among the Lesser Gods

For fans of authors like Barbara Kingsolver and Leif Enger, a stunning new voice in contemporary literary fiction.Tragedy and blessing. Leave them alone long enough, and it gets real hard to tell them apart. Elena Alvarez is living a cursed life. From the deadly fire she accidentally set as a child, to her mothers abandonment, and now to an unwanted pregnancy, she knows better than most that small actions can have terrible consequences. Driven to the high mountains surrounding Leadville, Colorado by her latest bad decision, shes intent on putting off the future. Perhaps there she can just hide in her grandmothers isolated cabin and wait for somethinganythingto make her next choice for her. But instead of escape, she finds reminders of her own troubles reflected from every sidethe recent widower and his two children adrift in a changed world, Elenas own mysterious family history, and the interwoven lives within the town itself. Bit by bit, Elena begins to reconsider her role in the tragedies shes held on to and the wounds shes refused to let heal. But then, in a single afternoon, when threads of cause and effect tangle, Elenas fragile new peace is torn apart. Its only at the prospect of fresh loss and blame that she will discover the truth of the terrible burdens we take upon ourselves, the way tragedy and redemption are inevitably bound togetherand how curses can sometimes lead to blessings, however disguised.