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Description edit
In the tradition of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, a dazzling debut novel about the family bonds that remain even when they seem irretrievably torn apart Growing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, with their mother dead and their... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Mabel Fischer: the older sister to Bertie. Daisy's mother, Jenny's grandmother, Bonnie's great grandmother
- Lynn: Rainey's eldest daughter;
- Grace Vincent: Rainey's youngest daughter
- Rainey Jean Jorgensen: Bertie's youngest daughter
- Alberta Fischer: Mabel's younger sister
- Wallace Hansford: Mabel's friend, Bertie's love interest as a young girl
- Grandma: Add a description of this character.
- Daisy Harker: Mabel's daughter
- Aunt Alma: Bertie's oldest daughter
- Gordon Crisp: Alma's husband
- Taylor: Lynn's daughter
- Mrs. Kendall: the woman that Alma stayed with after the flood.
- Carl Brandt: Rainey's ex-husband, and Lynn's father
- Sarah: Alma's granddaughter, daughter of Milton and Penny
- Mama
- Milton Crisp: Alma's son
- Hans: Bertie's husband, father of Alma and Rainey, Grandfather to Lynn, Grace, Milton
- Dr. Marshall Turner: Grace's father
- Sally: Rainey's friend
- Paul Connolly
- Newman
- James Butcher: Mabel and Bertie's stepfather
- Mr. Radford
- Derek
- Nick
- Sam: Lynn's husband
- Grandpa
- Hiram
- Jenny: Daisy's daughter, Mabel's grand daughter
- Alice Conrad
- Barry
- Mrs. Mialback
- Mrs. Murchison
- Emerson Harker
- Julianne Howard
- Shirley
- Julio Ortiz
- Bonnie: Jenny's daughter, Daisy's granddaughter, Mabel's great-granddaughter
- Judy
- Mr. Buchanan
- Mark P. Stevens
- Mr. Prather
- Ted
- Mrs. Davis
- Henry Layman
- Delia
- Dr. Wolfe
- Mrs. Wyler
- Jonas
- Patrick
- Fritz
- Michelle
- Kenneth Raymond Vincent
- J.J.
- Irma Henderson
- Stephen
- Claudine Powell
- Penny
- Dorothy Ansen
- Imogene Fischer
- Grandpa Dieter
- Mrs. Crisp
- Richard
- Cindy
- Vernon
- Gladys Bishop
- Mrs. Mitchell
- Charlemagne
- Casey Lockwood
- Mr. Mitchell
- Mrs. Small
- Mr. Murchison
- Dennis
- Bruce Powell
- Bill Crother
- Freddy Porter
- Bob
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
It was a lovely dress, soft and pink as a cloud at dawn.
Table of Contents edit
The Fischer Family Tree
One/Commencement/June1927/Bertie
Two/Departure/June 1927/Mabel
Three/The Letter/November 1933/Bertie
Four/Like Shirley/January 1937/Alma
Five/The Pose/April 1943/Mabel
Six/Independence Day/July 1947/Alma
Seven/Expecting/Christmas 1953/Bertie
Eight/The River/April 1954/Mabel
Nine/The Burger Chef/Summer and Fall 1956/Rainey
Ten/Ice/September 1964/Alma
Eleven/Letting Go/June 1965/Rainey
Twelve/Breaking/November 1965/Lynn
Thirteen/Upheaval/February 1966/Mabel
Fourteen/Prisoner/March 1973/Grace
Fifteen/Hanging Rock Road/October 1978/Lynn
Sixteen/Turnings/March 1979/Rainey
Seventeen/The New Man/Summer's End 1981/Grace
Eighteen/A Mighty Fortress/August 1987/Mabel
Nineteen/Words/April 1992/Bertie
Twenty/Accounting/Late Winter 1994/Alma
Twenty-One/Armorer/April 1995/Grace
Twenty-Two/Archaeology/November 1997/Rainey
Twenty-Three/Family Court/October 2005/Lynn
Twenty-Four/Gathering/June 2007/Bertie's Girls
Twenty-Five/Departure II/June 2007/Mabel
Acknowledgements
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Kirkus Reviews: Best Fiction of 2011. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Nancy Jensen (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 2011
ISBN: 9780312542702
Page Count: 324
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 2011
ISBN: 9780312542702
Page Count: 324
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813
Subjects edit
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