And unfortunately the Rawsons are not only people she owed money! Rawson doesn’t waste any time to knock on their door and tell them their mother owes her debt for rent and if they want to continue living in the cottage they have to pay rent including the amount their mother forgot to pay because of her illness. They always think they are living rent free but they don’t. They cannot imagine how their mother was the only bond hold them together and when she is gone, her entire secrets slowly reveal and turn their peaceful, estranged lives into hell! They seem like outcasts, marginals but they’re pleased with their peaceful independence till one night their mother collapses on the floor, dying from a stroke. Even though Jeanie cannot properly read and write, she’s happy to play her own music via her guitar as Julius plays the fiddle.

Their mother saved their money in a tin box.

Julius and Jeanie are twins in their 51s, living a secluded life with their mother Dot in their own terms with less comfort, little money in their life, growing their own vegetables, selling them to an upscale deli. You are just drawn into the pages! The incredibly well constructed characters, embellished, detailed descriptions of the nature, those lyrical folk songs brush your ears, soothe your soul and the poverty, harsh life conditions, demanding challenges the siblings endure make you enjoy your reading more at each chapter! This is deliciously disturbing and extremely unputdownable reading!

Claire fuller unsettled ground review