One Foot in Eden

One Foot in Eden is a 2002 crime novel by Ron Rash. Rash employs a blend of Southern Gothic and detective fiction to create suspense and explore the psychological inner conflict of the characters. The novel follows five different narrators as the people of Jocassee, South Carolina, discover the murder of Holland Winchester. As the investigation continues, the characters must come to terms with the displacement of their community while Carolina Power evicts the inhabitants of the valley to create a reservoir. Ron Rash is an award-winning novelist who specializes in Southern Gothic fiction, particularly centered in the Appalachian area where he grew up. In this novel, he explores themes of justice and morality and the impact of keeping secrets.

This study guide refers to the 2003 Picador print edition.

Content Warning: This guide describes and analyzes the source text’s depiction of racism and racist violence, death by suicide, war crimes, miscarriages, and infertility. The source material also contains racist and derogatory language.

Plot Summary

Sheriff Will Alexander responds to a call reporting a bar fight in Jocassee Valley. He investigates with his deputy, Bobby, and they discover that Korean War veteran Holland Winchester started the fight. Two weeks later, Mrs. Winchester, Holland’s mother, reports Holland missing. Mrs. Winchester tells Will that she thinks that their neighbor, Billy Holcombe, murdered him because Holland was sleeping with Billy’s wife, Amy. Bobby and Will spend the next few days searching Billy’s farm. After Will leaves the farm, he contemplates the implications of Carolina Power’s recent purchase of Jocassee Valley, for the company plans to turn the valley into a reservoir. A few days later, Will returns to the Holcombe farm. Will realizes that he does not know where Billy hid the body, so he acknowledges that Billy has gotten away with murder.

The narrative shifts to Amy’s perspective before the murder. After their wedding, Amy and Billy have trouble getting pregnant. They go to a doctor, who tells them that Billy is infertile. Amy goes to the Widow Glendower for help because many people in the valley believe that the Widow is a witch. The Widow tells Amy to seduce Holland in order to become pregnant. Amy seduces Holland, and once she gets pregnant, she breaks off the affair. When Holland refuses to leave Amy alone, Billy shoots him and takes the body to the river. After the police drop the investigation, Amy has a baby boy that she names Isaac. When Billy gets pneumonia, the Widow gives Amy a tea that heals him.

The narrative flashes back to Billy’s perspective before the murder. Billy suspects that Amy is sleeping with Holland. Once Amy becomes pregnant, she asks Billy to raise the child as if it is his own. When Billy sees Holland harassing Amy at the farm, Billy confronts Holland with his shotgun. Holland taunts Billy, and Billy shoots him. Afterward, Billy takes Holland’s body down to the river with a roll of barbed wire and rope. He hoists Holland’s body in the air into a tree and uses the barbed wire to secure the body on a limb. When the police finish their investigation, Billy cuts Holland’s body down and buries it under another tree. After Isaac is born and Billy recovers from pneumonia, he realizes that Isaac has Holland’s eyes. Billy knows that his punishment will be to live with the constant reminder of his crime.

Eighteen years later, Carolina Power evicts everyone from Jocassee Valley. The day before the eviction, Isaac harvests the final round of crops. Will comes to the farm and tells him that Mrs. Winchester (Holland’s mother) is refusing to leave her house until she sees Isaac. At her farm, Mrs. Winchester tells Isaac that Holland was Isaac’s father and that Amy and Billy killed him. She asks Isaac to find out what happened to Holland before Carolina Power fills the valley with water. After their conversation, Mrs. Winchester sets herself and the house on fire. The next day, Isaac confronts his parents about the murder, and Billy promises Isaac that he will show him where he hid the body. Even though Carolina Power has started flooding the valley, they return to the farm in Jocassee. Will arrives to tell them to leave, but Billy explains that they must dig up Holland. Will decides to go with them. Billy shows Isaac the location, and they dig up Holland’s remains together. Isaac puts the bones in a bag, and Will tells him that if he brings the bones back to the farm, they will have to reopen the murder case. Isaac decides to let the bones wash away in the river rather than prosecuting his parents. As they cross the river to leave Jocassee, the current pulls Billy underwater. Amy tries to find him, but the river pulls her under as well.

Bobby calls in divers to look for Amy and Billy, but they never find their bodies. A few months later, Bobby gets a call that a coffin has resurfaced on the reservoir. When Bobby picks up the coffin, he realizes that it belongs to the Widow. Bobby takes the coffin to the reservoir and dumps the Widow’s skeleton into the lake. Afterwards, Bobby feels uneasy as he thinks about everything drowned beneath him. He decides that he will never return to Jocassee Lake.