On paper, Jaycee Emory and Noor Khan embody the provincial charm of small-town Vermont: the former manages "Hillwinds Living History Books," her parents' educational park, while the latter runs a therapeutic riding stable. Though both are strapped for cash, neither would ever consider turning to, say, dealing cocaine to remedy the problem. But when it falls into their laps--in a wheel of Peruvian cheese, no less--suddenly the ethics seem less defined. Centered on the conspiratorial relationship between two women, A Well-Made Bed is fittingly a collaboration by two women, Laurie Alberts (Lost Daughters, The Price of Land in Shelby) and Abby Frucht (Licorice, Life Before Death). Framed like a classic hypothetical question, it explores how seemingly simple people can be swept up in dangerous schemes.
With its pastoral backdrop and allusions to history, the novel can also be read as a sort of tribute to Vermont, where Alberts lives and where Frucht worked at Vermont College of Fine Arts. But rather than romanticize the region, A Well-Made Bed depicts an eclectic, morally dubious collection of characters, linked only by their dissatisfaction and instinct for survival. Unlike the early settlers, who forged lives through honest hard work, the survival tactics of these modern Vermonters manifest in long-kept secrets, emotional compromises and the occasional illegal deal. Still, they exhibit a wily, formidable strength as they scrape their way out of bad situations, making the best of the cards they've been dealt. --Annie Atherton