Wish You Well (2012)

Best-selling suspense writer David Baldacci (Saving Faith) attempts more serious fare in Wish You Well, a Depression-era tale of two New York City children abruptly transplanted to Appalachian Virginia. Twelve-year old Lou and her 7-year-old brother Oz are sent to live with their great-grandmother after an accident kills their father and seriously injures their mother. The story of their adjustment to mountain ways — as their mother languishes in a catatonic state — unfolds with the soft-edged drama of a Waltons episode, complete with lessons on love, loss, and perseverance. When coal-mining bigwigs conspire with a local bully to rob the old lady of her land and her grandchildren, a local lawyer helps Lou in her battle to stay on the farm. Despite a shamelessly manipulative conclusion, Baldacci crafts a touching tale out of this love letter to a rural world. B