This is a rather odd book. The premise sounded interesting, but the execution left something to be desired. Solemn Redvine is a girl growing up in Mississiippi. She lives in a trailer park that time forgot, which seems to lack basic running water, among other things. Her father is a notorious theif and philanderer, and possibly a murderer. Solemn thinks she saw him throw his mistress's baby down the trailer park's well. She makes friends with a neighbor, but then a lightning storm challenges that friendship. The baby's mother disappears and Solemn is determined to find her. To cope with it all, Solemn retreats into a world of dreams and fantasy, which are recounted in the book. I found they added little and were mostly a distraction. This is just the first half of the book. In the second half Solemn goes with her father to rob a house, and ends up getting all the blame (which her father is happy to let her take). She's then sent to a reformatory, and that's about it. This book had a winding, meandering, not well-connected plot. I was shocked to discover it was set in the late 20th century, as it reads like something more from the 40s or the 50s. In any case, while there were really compelling elements, this book was too all over the place to keep my attention. ( )