What role does the setting play in the novel?

The primary setting of the story is Camp Green Lake. The majority of the novel takes part at the modern-day camp, a place beside a dry and barren lakebed. The camp is in the middle of the desert where nothing exists except dust, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and lizards, and where it hasn't rained for more than 100 years. The only two trees and shade on the whole place are owned by the Warden and forbidden to anyone else.

The present-day Camp Green Lake is a sharp contrast to the place that existed 110 years ago. Then it was a beautiful, thriving community settled on the shores of a sparkling lake. The town began to deteriorate when the townspeople committed a wrong, killing Sam, the onion man, and his faithful donkey, Mary Lou, and arresting Katherine Barlow.