Told through the points of view of twelve townspeople, There's No Way to Know explores the psyche of Tanner's Gap, West Virginia, a remote town nestled in the valley between lush ridges of the Appalachian Mountains. Whether the people who live there are trapping muskrats, reminiscing about the sixty-year-old murder of a young boy, or reeling from a husband's recent suicide, all of them are trying to get by the best they can. Mary Alice Hostetter complicates the downhome charms and easy myths of smalltown life with stories that attract and repel, embolden and frighten, tear down and build up.