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Blue Rider Press
March 2013
On Sale: March 7, 2013
326 pages
ISBN: 0399160701
EAN: 9780399160707
Kindle: B008EKONGA
Hardcover / e-Book
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Fiction Family Life
In her first novel since The God of War, the critically acclaimed author Marisa Silver takes Dorothea Langeβs βMigrant Motherβ photograph as inspiration for a breathtaking reinventionβa story of two women, one famous and one forgotten, and of the remarkable legacy of their chance encounter. In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of a road in Central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting the migrant laborers who have taken to Americaβs farms in search of work. Little personal information is exchanged, and neither woman has any way of knowing that they have produced what will become the most iconic image of the Great Depression. Three vibrant characters anchor the narrative of Mary Coin. Mary, the migrant mother herself, who emerges as a woman with deep reserves of courage and nerve, with private passions and carefully-guarded secrets. Vera Dare, the photographer wrestling with creative ambition who makes the choice to leave her children in order to pursue her work. And Walker Dodge, a present-day professor of cultural history, who discovers a family mystery embedded in the picture. In luminous, exquisitely rendered prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief moment in history, and reminds us that although a great photograph can capture the essence of a moment, it only scratches the surface of a life.
 Media BuzzFresh Air - NPR - February 28, 2013
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