I got about halfway through this novel before I gave up on it. While I appreciate the setting (the mountains of North Carolina) and the themes (what is man’s relationship to nature? how do we steward the earth while looking after our own needs?), I could not relate to any of the characters, and I disliked the dynamic of male vs. female, destroyer vs. nurturer that was being set up. I definitely didn’t find this novel as engaging as either The Poisonwood Bible or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.