Uz, Nebraska, during the Dust Bowl years

Uz is a small Great Plains town during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s, when drought, wind, and economic collapse make daily life precarious. The town’s isolation and desperation intensify rumor and scapegoating, shaping how quickly people accept simple explanations for complicated violence. As families consider fleeing west, Uz becomes a place where survival depends on what can be forgotten, what can be blamed on someone else, and what stories local power can keep intact.

The County Jentlemen Boardinghouse, Room 11

Room 11 in the County Jentlemen boardinghouse is the Antidote’s workplace and the novel’s central site of memory exchange. The cramped, controlled space turns confession into transaction, showing how pain can be processed through procedure rather than through community support. When frightened customers demand withdrawals and the Sheriff intrudes on the practice, the room becomes a pressure chamber where...