He promised her he would never let go. She’s willing to risk everything to hold on.
It was never Elsa Arnasson’s dream to live in the woods, let alone off the grid, in a house her husband is building from the trees he fells by hand. But the big-hearted, nature-loving Silas has ideals enough for them both, and with him, Elsa can finally set down roots.
When a logging accident changes everything for their budding family, Elsa has more questions than answers about how to carry on in an unfinished house. How do you fix a generator? What’s the best way to split wood? How do you build a fire that will last the night and keep the children warm? As winter descends and challenges mount, threatening both her sanity and her health, Elsa makes one decision after another that no one—not even her in-laws—can support. If she wants to stay, she must learn how to forge her own relationship with the land and accept help from the people and places she least expects.
Dunbar, drawing from her own lived experiences, vividly describes the wonder and harshness of life off the grid. Told over the course of a year, The Net Beneath Us is a lyrical exploration of loss, marriage, parenthood, and self-reliance; a tale of how the natural world—without and within us—offers us healing, if we can learn where to look.
Publisher: Forge/Macmillan
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1250826855
Available for order: AMAZON | B&N | INDIEBOUND
Carol Dunbar writes from a solar-powered office in the woods of northern Wisconsin where she resides with her husband, two kids, and a giant Alaskan malamute. Her work has appeared in The South Carolina Review, Midwestern Gothic, Midwest Review and Wisconsin Public Radio. Her debut novel The Net Beneath Us will release in the fall of 2022.
2022 Debuts 