The caretaker : a novel
(Book)

Blowing Rock, North Carolina, 1951. Blackburn Gant, his life irrevocably altered by a childhood case of polio, seems condemned to spend his life among the dead as the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery. It suits his withdrawn personality, and the inexplicable occurrences which happen from time to time rattle him less than interactions with the living. But when his only friend, the kind but impulsive Jacob Hampton, is conscripted to serve overseas, Blackburn is charged with caring for Jacob's wife, Naomi, as well. Jacob and Naomi's elopement had scandalized the community and angered Jacob's parents. Shunned by the townsfolk for their differences and equally fearful that Jacob may never come home from the war, Blackburn and Naomi grow closer, even as a stunning betrayal shatters familial bonds.