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St. Martin's Press
November 2011
On Sale: November 8, 2011
336 pages
ISBN: 0312542704
EAN: 9780312542702
Kindle: B0051O9YSE
Hardcover / e-Book
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Fiction
In the tradition of Marilynne Robinsonβs Housekeeping and Elizabeth Stroutβs 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 stepfather an ever-present threat, Bertie Fischer and her older sister Mabel have no one but each otherβwith perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong. A choice made in desperate haste sets off a chain of misunderstandings that will divide the sisters and reverberate through three generations of women. What happens when nothing turns out as you planned? From the Depression through World War II and Vietnam, and smaller events both tragic and joyful, Bertie and Mabel forge unexpected identities that are shaped by unspeakable secrets. As the sisters have daughters and granddaughters of their own, they discover that both love and betrayal are even more complicated than they seem. Gorgeously written, with extraordinary insight and emotional truth, Nancy Jensenβs powerful debut novel illuminates the far-reaching power of family and family secrets.
 Media BuzzAll Things Considered - February 16, 2012
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