First published 1998
In a small Massachusetts town, a soap company brings jobs and hygiene. But the factory's pollution takes a toll on Laura, a local woman who falls ill with cancer. As the community's fortunes shift, Laura wages a personal battle against the encroaching forces of industry and modernity. At the heart of this story lies one woman's quiet, poignant struggle to preserve her way of life.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, 21st-century, environmental-science
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-battle, quiet-struggle
Setting: Massachusetts
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
355 pages · Hardcover · Farrar Straus & Giroux
Content warnings: terminal-illness