First published 2018
Evelyn Wise abandoned her career for a late marriage and struggles with motherhood in their Midwestern college town. Her daughter Laura feels the sting of her mother's disappointment and desperately wants marriage, only to find herself wed to Gabe, a demanding man who places impossible expectations on everyone around him, including his musician son. Grace, the third generation, has escaped her parents' house but drifts without direction, unable to harness whatever potential she might possess. Across decades from World War II to today, these three women face social snubs and romantic betrayals, marital letdowns and affairs, family breakdowns and death. Each generation grapples with the same burning question: must a woman sacrifice herself for family duty, repeating the patterns of those before her, or can she break free from the confines of place and expectation? The Wise women hold their family together while wrestling with whether true freedom is possible.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, family-life, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-dynamics, generational-conflict, societal-expectations
Setting: Midwestern, College Town
Period: World War II, Today
336 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster