The Truth and the Life

Welcome to Cedar Mill, a late-nineteenth century industrial town in the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Rachel Morris-young, outspoken, and impulsive-becomes involved in a consuming relationship with David Cranmer, her long-time friend and partner-in-crime. Set against the backdrop of a vividly-imagined historical town that is itself in the throes of major change, this relationship comes to affect Rachel and David (and all who know them) in ways that are simultaneously deeply-felt, heartbreaking and revealing. Meanwhile, in present-day Boston, twenty-something Emma Harris is reeling from the recent death of her mother. Teetering on the edge of depression and yearning for the certainty of knowledge, Emma undertakes a journey of discovery that ultimately leads her to the ruins of a Pine Barrens ghost town, where she might come to encounter the curious interplay between what is known and what is not, between truth and life--and, in so doing, find closure. Elizabeth Moore is the author of The Truth and the Life, a new novel from Alternative Book Press. She grew up in Indian Mills, New Jersey (population just shy of 6500), not far from the heart of the Pinelands National Reserve. The unique ecology and culture of this region have always had a strong influence on her writing, both poetry and prose. Her work explores the sometimes beautiful, sometimes tenuous relationships between nature and the human heart, between the wonders of youth and the uncertainties of experience, between past and present-day lives. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Nathan, where she works in academic publishing.