The landscapes that shape my fiction—quiet roads, open fields, shifting skies. These aren’t settings. They’re characters.

These real-world places form the emotional map of Radiant, Virginia—the fictional town at the heart of my novels.

Where the water remembers everything you’ve said and forgives anyway.
The light touches last where no one lives.
The road home, just after the rain.
Late winter, and still
the road keeps going.
Where the hills hold still, and sky forgets to hurry.
A valley wrapped in fog, waiting for the light.
Late spring. The water wam, the sky restless.
The long road home. Some evenings hold their breath.
September in bloom. The fields say goodby in gold.
Mist on the ridge. The hills hold their breath.

These are real places, even if the town of Radiant is not.

The lake is called Lake Moomaw—where I conquered my first open-water swim.

The road at sunset winds past a farm, where we ride bikes and wave to cows.

That golden field blooms every September, just down the road.

And the early morning mist over the red barn?
I pulled over to take that photo on my way to work.


Each of these places grounds the fictional world of Radiant in the one where I live.

The Radiant Novels

Three standalone novels set in Radiant, Virginia—a fictional Appalachian town where recovery is hard-won, violence is never simple, and grace arrives in unexpected forms.

Visit other parts of Radiant:

EMILY GIRARD | FICTION WRITER

All photos © Emily Bump Girard, taken in the Shenandoah Valley

EMILY GIRARD | FICTION WRITER

All photos © Emily Bump Girard, taken in the Shenandoah Valley