Set in a small prairie town in northwest Iowa, and narrated from the grave in a voice that is often humorous, elucidatory, and enlightening, these interconnected folk tales capture how the dearly departed handle being spirits in a world that continues on without them, but also with them. In Up the Hill, death is intimate, and sometimes painful, but it is a threshold to understanding - not only for the deceased, but for the living. The result is forgiveness, redemption, and divine intervention and proof that "you get a whole lot smarter when you die."