The Themes That Would Come To Dominate The Rebus Books Are Already Here ... The Blurred Boundaries Between Good And Evil; The Pull Of Superstition And Myth; The Difficulties In Escaping And Resolving One's Past; The Emotional Complexities Of The Male Of The Species; And, Not Least, A Good Mystery' Time Out Mary Miller Had Always Been An Outcast. Burnt In A Chemical Mix As A Young Girl, Sympathy For Her Quickly Faded When The Young Man Who Pushed Her In Died In A Mining Accident Just Two Days Later. From Then On She Was Regarded With A Mixture Of Suspicion And Fascination By Her God-Fearing Community. Now, Years Later, She Is A Single Mother, Caught Up In A Faltering Affair With A Local Teacher. Her Son, Sandy, Has Fallen In Love With A Strange Homeless Girl. The Search For Happiness Isn'T Easy. Both Mother And Son Must Face A Dark Secret From Their Past, In The Growing Knowledge That Their Small Dramas Are Being Played Out Against A Much Larger Canvas, Glimpsed Only In Symbols And Flickering Images - Of Decay And Regrowth, Of Fire And Water - Of The Flood.