The Home Place a strong debut for Carrie La Seur

Carrie La Seur's finely crafted debut chronicles a woman's complicated relationship with her hometown of Billings, Montana, her relatives who stayed behind and her ancestral history. La Seur's graceful prose in The Home Place complements her incisive character studies of a family that has managed to keep most of its problems behind closed doors.

Alma Terrebonne left Billings and the family's "home place" more than 15 years ago to attend college on a full scholarship, shortly after her parents were killed in a car accident that maimed her younger sister, Vicky. Now an attorney in Seattle, Alma only returns to Billings to attend family events.

Alma returns home when Vicky is found frozen to death. The single mother of 11-year-old Brittany, Vicky led a troubled life of drugs, bad boyfriends and debt. Alma plans to arrange Vicky's funeral, visit with her older brother, Pete, and her grandmother, and settle Brittany with her aunt and uncle who had raised Vicky after their parents' death.