"Serena" by Ron Rash

How would you describe Serena's philosophy of life? What does she value most? What importance does she place on honesty? In your opinion, did she ever truly love Pemberton?  If so, what do her actions in the end say about what she values most in life?

5/20/2009

For Readers New to Serena

As Serena came more alive to me as a character, I realized she was an anomaly in American literary fiction. While there have been many novels about women who have wielded great power within a family, how many have been about a woman who is a “captain of industry,” especially in novels...

As Serena came more alive to me as a character, I realized she was an anomaly in American literary fiction. While there have been many novels about women who have wielded great power within a family, how many have been about a woman who is a “captain of industry,” especially in novels set in the past? This aspect of Serena made her even more intriguing to me. How would she assert herself, and prove herself, to the hundred men in her employment? How would the workers, and her husband, react to her strength and ambition? This, too, makes it a novel for our times.
I have never worked harder or longer on a novel than this one. Its scope is much more ambitious and its landscape more vast, but, in the end, the novel’s ultimate theme is the universal and timeless vagaries of the human heart.
—Ron Rash

For more information about the author, check out:

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/33503/Ron_Rash/index.aspx