Road to Thunder Hill

The story is focused on the life of the narrator, Trish. Over the years Trish has led a fairly stable family life albeit one that was short on stimulation beyond that which rural living can offer. Suddenly Trish finds herself faced with an ailing marriage, a teenaged daughter who'd prefer to live with her alcoholic grandmother than at home, and a half-sister who seems bent on exposing Trish as an inferior to herself. Her husband leaves her and takes a job in another town. Neither of them know if they should call it quits for good or not. Trish’s short fuse and jealousy seem destined to push him away and she finds herself both in fear of losing him and at the same time attracted to other men, in particular his best friend. Similarly she is in constant conflict with her sixteen-year-old daughter who wants to move out. Trish faces the prospect of being left completely alone. When a freak spring storm hits Thunder Hill and the power goes out, Trish finds herself back in the house that was her childhood summer home as well as the site of the cooperative farming venture that ended badly. The storm brings her into contact with her friends in unexpected ways, and in a compromising situation with her hermit friend Bear, who is also her husband Tom's closest friend. The cheerful, put-the- best-face-on-things half sister whom Trish has been taught to believe is no blood relation, is now living in the house and doing her best to make friends in the community. Then later, when forced to stay at her half-sister’s home, Trish feels she is living a nightmare, one that forces her to face her past and present circumstances.