Helen's Property/Home, 2019

Perley and his family live in a small home on Helen’s rural Appalachian property. They live in a small valley, and are thus mostly out of sight from the rest of the world. The house itself is poorly built but manages to last through the events of the novel. The land is an unforgiving but freeing space for Perley and his family, as they live largely outside the constraints of mainstream society. They are often cold and underfed as they live mostly from what they can gather or trap, and they do not have a septic system so they have to go to the bathroom outside. In the end, these conditions prove dangerous for the family unit when their home is penetrated by the surveillance of the legal system, represented by the young social worker who is called after Perley’s snake bite. Perley’s...