Thirsty

It is 1883, and all of Klara Bozics girlish dreams have come crashing down as she arrives in Thirsty, a gritty steel town carved into the slopes above the Monongahela River just outside of Pittsburgh. She has made a heartbreaking discovery. Her new husband Drago is as abusive as the father she left behind in Croatia. In Kristin Bair OKeeffes debut novel, Klaras life unfolds over forty years as she struggles to find her place in a new country where her survival depends on the friends who nurture her: gutsy, funny Katherine Zupanovic, who isnt afraid of Dragos fist; BenJo, the only black man in Thirsty to have his own shop; and strangely enough, Old Man Rupert, the town drunk. Thirsty follows a chain of unlikely events that keep Klaras spirit aloft: a flock of angelic butterflies descends on Thirsty; Klara gives birth to her first child in Old Man Ruperts pumpkin patch; and BenJo gives her a talking bird. When Klaras daughter marries a man even more brutal than Drago, Klara is forced to act. If she doesnt finally break the cycle of violence in her family, her granddaughters will one day walk the same road, broken and bruised. As the threads that hold her family together fray and come undone, Klara has to decide if she has the courage to carve out a peaceful spot in the world for herself and her girls.