A freak car crash in 1960s rural North Carolina sets in motion moments of grace that bring redemption to two generations of women and the lives they touch.

For forty years, Aurilla Cutter has kept secrets that have turned her mean. A fatal accident becomes the catalyst for releasing the passions, needs, and hurts tied to her hidden past. Darlene, a seventeen-year-old widow, struggles to reconnect with her dead husband while proving she’s still alive. Soon, loss and death draw Darlene into an unlikely affair that threatens to upend Aurilla’s family and unleashes Aurilla’s memories of longing and infidelity.

As Aurilla’s forbidden and heartbreaking story of love, death, and repeated loss alternates with Darlene’s, the divide of generations and time narrows, leading to an unlikely collision of two women’s yearnings that will free them both from the past. Loving the Dead and Gone is a lyrical novel that explores how both grief and love are the ties that bind.