Searching for an escape from mediocrity, the young heroine of The Clam Shell leaves her hometown of Canona, West Virginia, and enters a Southern women's college. She is not destined for a safe path, however, and her violent awakening comes in the form of a brutal sexual assault through which she ultimately discovers her own hidden strength. Set in 1936, The Clam Shell continues the mesmerizing story Settle began in The Love Eaters.