A Year in Bradley Hollow

Patricia is a young woman living in an isolated area of the Appalachian mountains with her mother and aunt. The only neighbors are an aunt, uncle and a cousin. She has friends who visit sometimes; but no opportunity to follow her life dreams. She has been in love with one man for years. The heart of the story is that she has very debilitating health problems. Although she's never been healthy, she is now dealing with something larger than she can handle. The process of finding causes...
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Patricia is a young woman living in an isolated area of the Appalachian mountains with her mother and aunt. The only neighbors are an aunt, uncle and a cousin. She has friends who visit sometimes; but no opportunity to follow her life dreams. She has been in love with one man for years. The heart of the story is that she has very debilitating health problems. Although she's never been healthy, she is now dealing with something larger than she can handle. The process of finding causes of her illness and fear of what it may be drains her to the point that she can no longer make the best choices. Faced with the pressures and stresses of her broken dreams, dealing with pain, lack of physical strength, and huge losses in her personal life leave her without hope or optimism for a future.A homeless friend who is staying with the family thinks she can fix Pat's life. This person's reputation is questionable and she has ambitions and interests in direct opposition to those of the main character. She creates an abusive relationship for herself, consequently drawing Pat into situations she's not equipped to handle, although she does not realize this. The story takes an unfortunate turn and the heroine ends up in an abusive relationship herself that she tries and fails to be able to deal with. A family is torn apart and devastated and a life is stripped with love/hate relationships that threaten to totally destroy each and every character.This story depicts a lot of the unknown elements of life in the Appalachian south for many. It clearly illustrates how young people with dreams but without the means to follow those dreams can end up with very promising lives reduced to ruin.