Rosehall — Jeanne Irelan

Rosehall a house, which is the center of a crime, a romance, and more. Quiet yet intense in its emotional content, the novel is set in the fictional town of Monroeville, Tennessee, and seeks to explore ideas of degeneration and rebirth. Rosehall is seen mainly through the eyes of feisty Becca Thorpe, who has tried to rise above her origins as a girl from the “Ridge.” A remarkable woman, she's been married for fifteen years to Edward Thorpe, twenty years her senior and a dissolute alcoholic, though from a fine old family. They live in the house that the Thorpes have always had, the once magnificent Rosehall.
But if Becca thought the cachet of belonging to a fabled family and living in a house with a name would raise her status, she has found it to be a false hope. Instead, she's become a support, both financial and, in her view, emotional, of a menage made up of her husband's relatives and Edward and Becca's two children. Into this difficult household comes a young newspaper editor of the town weekly, David Muller, recently of Pennsylvania, who rents out a portion of Rosehall. He quickly becomes absorbed in the family's trials, most importantly a brutal assault on Becca's daughter. Seeking justice and retribution becomes the raison d'être of Becca's life, though ultimately aided by fate. Along the way, David falls in love with Becca, who gratefully responds to his warmth and kindness.
Through David's counsel, Becca finally realizes her worth as an individual, which doesn't depend on the Thorpe name or even Rosehall itself.