The novel This Is Where It Ends by Cindy K. Sproles is set in the early 1900s. Minerva Jenkins lives alone on a mountain in Kentucky. She’s ninety-four years old, and she’s been widowed for three decades. Her husband made her promise to keep his secret. She buried it in a box next to his grave. But the thing is, even she doesn’t know what’s in the box. She doesn’t know exactly what the secret is.
Probably stolen gold.
To survive alone on a mountain for so long, you know Minerva’s got to have a lot of grit. Sproles takes us deep deep inside Minerva’s mind. She’s not only full of grit, but wisdom, patience, and love for her dead husband. She’s also grown humorously cantankerous as shown through her dialogue. Take, for instance, this bit when she responds to a reporter named Del who is trying to get her attention: “You look like a right smart man, bein from the city an all. I’ve lost count of the times you’ve called my name. What do you want me to do? Tie a ribbon around your pinkie so you can remember? Reckon you got me unless you feel the need to call my name . . . again.” -Cindy K. Sproles, This Is Where It Ends
