Laura McHugh - The Weight of Blood

I turned away from the cave. I couldn’t stare at it any longer, expecting answers that wouldn’t come. I was done waiting for ghosts. I pulled Daniel down onto the blanket and kissed him, hard.

“I haven’t been replaced by Jamie Petree?” he teased, trailing his fingers along my cheek.

“Hardly,” I said. “He’s a terrible kisser.”

Daniel wrapped his arms around me and drew me close to him, almost as close as I wanted to be. On the blanket, in the filtered light, doves lamenting in the trees, I felt at home—with my world, myself, with him. I let myself get lost in the moment, looking neither forward nor back, seeking nothing absent but embracing what was right in front of me.

Thank you to the Runge and McHugh families, especially my mom, Veronica Runge, for everything, and my sisters, Lisa Gilpin, Diane Berner, and Ellen Runge, for their unfailing belief and love. Thank you to my in-laws, Barb and Bill McHugh, for their kindness and support.

My husband, Brent, deserves a huge thank-you for suggesting that I stop trying to squeeze my pregnant belly into an interview suit and instead use my newfound unemployment as an opportunity to write a book, like I’d always wanted. His love and support kept me going. Thank you to our daughters, Harper and Piper, for making me want to work harder.

I am forever grateful to my agent, Sally Wofford-Girand, for all she has done. She made my dreams come true.

Heartfelt thanks to my wonderful editor, Cindy Spiegel, who believed in the story and made it better, and to everyone at Spiegel & Grau and Random House who helped. Thank you to Selina Walker for her invaluable insight and to E. Beth Thomas for copyediting.

Much love and gratitude to my writing group: Ann Breidenbach, Nina Furstenau, Jennifer Gravley, Jill Orr, and Allison Smythe. I’m lucky to be surrounded by such talented and generous friends. Special thanks to Jill for the endless encouragement and for sharing this journey with me.

I would like to thank everyone who read early drafts, answered questions, offered advice, or cheered me on: Paula Parker, Hilary Sorio, Elizabeth Anderson, Angie Sloop, Sally Mackey, Emily Williams, Jennifer Anderson, Liz Lea, Amy Messner, Julie Hague, Nicole Coates, Jessica Longaker, Scott Greathouse, Dan Sophie, Ryan Gerling, Thomas Jacobs, Keija Parssinen, and Paula Chaffin of New Horizons for Children. Thanks also to Taisia Gordon, my favorite photographer.

Thank you to the friends and neighbors who offered to babysit my children when I needed help, and last but not least, thank you to Daniel Boone Regional Library, where I spent countless hours drinking coffee and working on this book.

Laura McHugh grew up in small towns in Iowa and southern Missouri, the youngest in a family of eight children. She holds a master’s degree in library science and has worked as a librarian and a software developer. Her short fiction has appeared in Confrontation and Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley. As a full-time mom, she spends most of her time doing laundry and playing My Little Pony, but she also likes to garden, sew, and watch zombie movies. McHugh lives in Columbia, Missouri, with her husband, two daughters, and dog.

Advance Reader’s Copy — Not for Sale

THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD

A Novel

Laura McHugh

Spiegel & Grau

This is an uncorrected eBook file.

Please do not quote for publication until you check your copy against the finished book.

Tentative On-Sale Date: March 11, 2014

Tentative Publication Month: March 2014

Tentative Print Price: $26.00

Tentative eBook Price: n/a

Please note that books will not be available in stores until the above on-sale date.

All reviews should be scheduled to run after that date.

Publicity Contact:

Random House Publicity

(212) 572-2301

www.spiegelandgrau.com

Spiegel & Grau

An imprint of the Random House Publishing Group

1745 Broadway • New York, NY • 10019

This is an uncorrected eBook file. Please do not quote for publication until you check your copy against the finished book.

The Weight of Blood is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Laura McHugh

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Spiegel & Grau and the House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McHugh, Laura.

The weight of blood : a novel / Laura McHugh.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: “The Dane family’s roots tangle deep in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane, but that doesn’t keep sixteen-year-old Lucy Dane from being treated like an outsider. Folks still whisper about her mother, a bewitching young stranger who inspired local myths when she vanished years ago. When one of Lucy’s few friends, slow-minded Cheri, is found murdered, Lucy feels haunted by the two lost girls—the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn’t protect. Everything changes when Lucy stumbles across Cheri’s necklace in an abandoned trailer and finds herself drawn into a search for answers. What Lucy discovers makes it impossible to ignore the suspicion cast on her own kin. More alarming, she suspects Cheri’s death could be linked to her mother’s disappearance, and the connection between the two puts Lucy at risk of losing everything. In a place where the bonds of blood weigh heavy, Lucy must decide where her allegiances lie.” —Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-8129-9520-6

eBook ISBN 978-0-8129-9521-3

1. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 2. Human trafficking—Fiction. 3. Families—Fiction. 4. Ozark Mountains Region—Fiction. 5. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

PS3613.C5334W45 2014

813'.6—dc23 2013021292

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

www.spiegelandgrau.com

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

First Edition

Book design by Elizabeth A. D. Eno