The novel opens with a specific setting emphasizing its importance to the story line: 5:00 a.m. on a warm October Sunday in 1953 in Crooked Ridge, near Coal Station, Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains— precisely when and where Belle Prater disappeared—and covers one year exactly to the day of the disappearance: October 11, 1954. Most of the action takes place, however, in Coal Station, which sits at the convergence of Black River and Slag Creek and is named for the nearby coal mines. Its two streets not only indicate its size, but also are appropriately named Main (for businesses) and Residence (for houses).
Overlooking Slag Creek is the tree house Gypsy's father built for her when she was five. It becomes an integral part of the setting as well, for here in their secret hideout.....
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