The Purple Heights

About this book

Marie Conway Oemler’s South Carolina novel follows Peter from a hard boyhood into adult life beyond home, while Nancy’s romantic crisis forms another strand of the story. At fifteen, he is hired to plow for a farmer who works him hard. On Sundays, he slips away with a Bible and papers, guarding a private life beyond the farm’s demands. In a Paris café, Peter hears that a frail young woman has been abandoned by a sculptor, and chooses to help her.