Crooktop Mountain is the only home Mercy Heron has ever known. She has been raised by her grandmother, whom she calls Momma Rutha, known throughout the community as Crazy Rutha, and her strict and unforgiving grandfather, whom she calls Father Heron.

Her mother died in childbirth under an old June apple tree because her father had forsaken her and locked her out of the house for being pregnant out of wedlock.

For 18 years Mercy has been content with this life, but in the summer after her graduation Mercy is forced to rethink her plans.

Della, her school friend for life, was called trailer park trash by her grandfather and never allowed to come to her house. The girls had bonded early in life and promised never to leave the other behind.

One night the girls go to the old quarry where young people go to meet and party and Mercy meets a man she soon falls in love with.

Life on the mountain is divided into several groups; Mercy’s family being considered well off, Della’s family trailer trash and then the rural people even poorer; but Trout, the man Mercy meets, is lower than this. He is a white mater migrant: a man who travels from place to place picking vegetables and fruits for a living.

Mercy knows she cannot have her love with Trout on the mountain so they go on the run and Mercy learns about life as a mater migrant.

However Mercy knows she must return to get Della and face the wrath of Grandfather once more beneath The Killing Tree.

This book is set in the Appalachian Mountains and rings very true for me. The dialect, the settings and the prejudices are all true to life. I would rate it in my top ten books for the year.