Splintered Silence (Bone Gap Travellers #1) Susan Furlong Very Good!

(Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book)
Splintered Silence by author Susan Furlong is written with a focus on the Irish Travellers, the Bone Gap Travellers, who live in the backwoods of Tennessee. Brynn Callahan and her service dog Wilco served with the Marines in the Middle East. They were injured in an IED explosion and sent home. Both Brynn and Wilco suffer from flashbacks and PTSD.
Wilco is a trained cadaver dog and one morning sniffs out a terrible surprise for the residents of Bone Gap.  Wilco leads Brynn to a pit where a dead female is discovered.
I won’t post spoilers, but this story has several layers of family secrets, old community prejudices, and very interesting cultural information about the lifestyles and beliefs of the clans of Irish Travellers or Pavees as they called themselves.  Brynn is trying to live between two cultures in a modern world. Life has not been easy for Brynn and it is heartbreaking! Her mother ran away and left her with her grandparents when she was very young. Also according to tradition Brynn’s marriage to another member of the clan was contracted without her consent by her grandfather. The horrible things she suffered influenced her to run to the Marines as a way of escape.

Photography by Diane Lochala

"Appalachian Surprise"

While hiking along a country creek during a light shower of rain, I saw clouds of butterflies floating

down the hill and lighting among the rocks in the stream. dcl