Somewhere a Pinch of Love

Deserted by his mother, eight-year-old Rudy is sent to live in the Kentucky Mountains with his ornery grandmother, Will Jean. All Rudy wants is someone to love him. Instead, he gets a daily dose of verbal abuse. He finally escapes his arduous journey into adulthood through a college scholarship to Kent State. There Rudy meets a girl named Annie, and finally experiences love, until Annie disappears and is never seen or heard from again. For years, Rudy's life spirals downward into an alcoholic stupor, and there's doubt that his attempt to stop drinking will succeed. Eighteen years after Annie's disappearance, Rudy receives a bundle of love letters written while they were together. An enclosed note asks if he'd intended to hurt Annie and would he like to see her again. Is Annie still alive? Does love last forever? Or is it just the mind playing tricks on old memories?