Serena takes place in Waynesville, NC and the surrounding area during the early part of the Great Depression. At that time, there was a large logging operation in the NC mountains, and the rich got richer while the mountain people ravaged the land they lived on and risked life and limb in order to feed their families. Introduce into this setting, Serena, the new wife of one of the company owners. Serena is beautiful, but there's nothing soft about her. Growing up in the west, and trained by her father to survive and prosper in a wilderness, she comes to the timber camp prepared to rule with an iron fist. It doesn't help that, prior to their marriage and Serena's arrival in NC, her husband fathered an illegitimate child on one of the women working at the lumber camp. In Serena Ron Rash has penned a story that is beautifully written-- he captures the Great Smoky Mountains as well as the lilt and language of the mountain people artfully and believably. He weaves historical fact into his fictional story. His most impressive feat is creating characters of dimension and depth that you feel you know; and in the case of Serena herself, a character that you are in awe of, mesmerized by, and who eventually terrifies you. I thought Scarlet O'Hara was a strong and frightening protagonist when I first read Gone with the Wind, but she's nothing compared to Serena!