by Dana Spiotta
First published 2006
Caroline and Nash were young idealists in the 1970s underground movement, committed to changing the world through radical action. When their activism turns violent and they must go into hiding, Caroline disappears completely, abandoning her identity and her infant son. Twenty years later, she lives under an assumed name, working quietly while constantly looking over her shoulder. Meanwhile, her son Josh has grown up without knowing his mother's true identity or the reasons she vanished. As the past threatens to surface in the 1990s, mother and son exist in separate worlds shaped by the same traumatic events. The story moves between these two decades, revealing how one generation's passionate idealism creates lasting wounds in the next. Caroline must confront whether her sacrifices were worth the price paid by those she left behind.
Genres: american-fiction, contemporary, activism, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: United States
Period: 1970s, 1990s
290 pages · Paperback · Scribner
Content warnings: violence