First published 2014
Marie sits on the front steps of her Brooklyn apartment building in the 1920s, watching for her father's return from work. She grows up in an Irish-American neighborhood where she witnesses the struggles and joys of immigrant life during the Depression and beyond. Her first love ends in tragedy. Her father dies. She marries and has her first child. The world changes around her as economic crisis gives way to another world war. Marie experiences deep pain and unexpected pleasure as she navigates marriage troubles, poverty, faith, and the effects of alcohol and traumatized war veterans on her community. McDermott follows Marie through decades of ordinary yet significant moments, from young womanhood through the inevitable approach of old age, revealing how one unremarkable woman's life contains the full weight of human experience during a time of tremendous social upheaval.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, slice-of-life
Setting: Brooklyn
Period: 1920s, Great Depression, World War II
218 pages · Paperback · Link Uitgeverij
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, war