Set on the western coast of Scotland, the Silver Bough skillfully combines stories of three American women with fictional newspaper/research texts describing a small Scottish town, Appleton. Ashley, a high school graduate, is in town catching up with her lost cousins and discovering the place from which her grandmother fled. Kathleen, recently divorced, is seeking a new start as the town's head librarian. Nell, a widow still mourning the sudden death of her husband, is building a life on her own by renovating a historic house and its enclosed apple orchard.

When they are suddenly cut off from the mainland by a landslide over the only connecting road, the current inhabitants of Appleton must decide how to continue. Connections remain available by sea, and the resumption of a ferry service between the town and Glasgow takes on a more imperative cast. But the cut-off is more than just physical disruption, and the impact on each of the women's lives could lead them to their true futures.

(Source: Spectra)