Our Burden's Light — Patrick Thomas Casey

Set in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the first weeks of fall, Our Burden's Light tells the story of two families caught on either side of small town violence. One family combusts under the weight of loss and grief, while the other is quietly buried by it. The Edenic story of being cast out of paradise is reimagined through the lens of contemporary America in the stories of three people knotted together in their own losses of innocence. Interspersed are moving vignettes of lives affected by and tied to Shenandoah, showing the power of redemption, loss and love in a skillful debut by a talented new voice.