Viking
January 2014
On Sale: January 16, 2014
Featuring: Diane Johnson
266 pages ISBN: 0670016403 EAN: 9780670016402 Kindle: B00DMCUZQ2 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
From the New York Times bestselling author of Le Divorce, a dazzling meditation on the mysteries of the βwispy but materialβ family ghosts who shape us
Growing up in the small river town of Moline, Illinois, Diane Johnson always dreamed of floating down the Mississippi and off to see the world. Years later, at home in France, a French friend teases her: βIndifference to historyβthatβs why you Americans seem so naΓ―ve and donβt really know where youβre from.β
The jβaccuse stayed with Johnson. Were Americans indifferent to history? Her own family seemed always to have been in the Midwest. Surely they had got there from somewhere? In digging around, she discovers letters and memoirs written by generations of stalwart pioneer ancestors that testify to more complex times than the derisive nickname βThe Flyoverβ gives the region credit for.
With the acuity and sympathy that her novels are known for, she captures the magnetic pull of home against our lust for escape and self-invention. This spellbinding memoir will appeal to fans of Bill Bryson, Patricia Hampl, and Annie Dillard.
Media Buzz
Fresh Air - NPR - January 31, 2014 Weekend Edition Sunday - January 26, 2014
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