Abby Reynolds is your typical teenage girl living in a
rural community in the tiny town of Small Plains, Kansas.
In love with the judge's son, Mitch Newquist, Abby has
hopes of one day getting married and starting her own
family using her parent's example of a good marriage full
of love and commitment of which to emulate. The daughter
of the local doctor, Abby hangs out with Mitch and the
sheriff's son, Rex Shellenberger, as the trio finds
themselves getting into harmless mischief that teenagers
ultimately do when testing their wings and finding their
niche in life.
When a blizzard suddenly descends upon the town,
the Shellenberger men must try to save their newborn cattle
before the herd freezes to death in the storm. When Rex
finds an unidentified naked girl frozen in the snow, his
father makes the decision to bring the corpse to Abby's
father to examine. Unbeknownst to the group, at the very
same time, Abby and Mitch have finally decided to
consummate their relationship despite the potential risk it
may have to their future. As Mitch sneaks downstairs to
the doctor's office to get some protection, what he
ultimately witnesses will change the lives of these three
best friends, as well as the entire town, forever.
What happened on that cold and blustery evening
that made Mitch quickly leave town and never come back?
Who is the mysterious girl that was found bludgeoned to
death that the town has buried and named the Virgin? Why
does she have such healing powers that make people from all
over come to the grave and pay homage to her?
THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLAINS is Nancy Pickard's
eighteenth and most powerful novel to date. This expertly
written tale captivates the reader from the very first page
with an engrossing storyline full of plot twists and
riveting dialog. Told from the past as well as the
present, Pickard truly strikes gold.
Small Plains, Kansas, January 23, 1987: In the midst of a
deadly blizzard, eighteen-year-old Rex Shellenberger scours
his father’s pasture, looking for helpless newborn calves.
Then he makes a shocking discovery: the naked, frozen body
of a teenage girl, her skin as white as the snow around her.
Even dead, she is the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. It
is a moment that will forever change his life and the lives
of everyone around him. The mysterious dead girl–the “Virgin
of Small Plains”–inspires local reverence. In the two
decades following her death, strange miracles visit those
who faithfully tend to her grave; some even believe that her
spirit can cure deadly illnesses. Slowly, word of the legend
spreads.
But what really happened in that
snow-covered field? Why did young Mitch Newquist disappear
the day after the Virgin’s body was found, leaving behind
his distraught girlfriend, Abby Reynolds? Why do the town’s
three most powerful men–Dr. Quentin Reynolds, former sheriff
Nathan Shellenberger, and Judge, Tom Newquist–all seem to be
hiding the details of that night?
Seventeen years
later, when Mitch suddenly returns to Small Plains,
simmering tensions come to a head, ghosts that had long
slumbered whisper anew, and the secrets that some wish would
stay buried rise again from the grave of the Virgin.
Abby–never having resolved her feelings for Mitch–is now
determined to uncover exactly what happened so many years
ago to tear their lives apart.
Three families and
three friends, their worlds inexorably altered in the course
of one night, must confront the ever-unfolding consequences
in award-winning author Nancy Pickard’s remarkable novel of
suspense. Wonderfully written and utterly absorbing, The
Virgin of Small Plains is about the loss of faith, trust,
and innocence . . . and the possibility of
redemption.
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