Wild Grass - Jane Hamilton - book

Honey Creek, in the far north of Illinois, is a small rural town where life flows by uneventfully. Except for Lucy...
She was only ten years old in 1940 when her father left the family home and abandoned her in the hands of a mother who only had eyes for her son, Matt, and made Lucy her punching bag, constantly reminding her of her "difference." Lucy was indeed a lonely and misunderstood child, for whom nature was a constant source of wonder.
As a young woman, Lucy retains this innocence. She will be seduced by Ruby, a good-for-nothing who will end up behind bars... Alone with her son, Lucy seems at the end of her rope. But, supported by her aunt Sid, she will experience a destiny that nothing could have predicted.