First published 2013
Sadie Randolph taught third grade to every child in Fulton, North Carolina. Now she lives at Pine Haven Estates, a retirement facility where she insists everyone remains eight years old at heart. Her fellow residents include Stanley Stone, the town's former top lawyer who pretends to have dementia to avoid his son. Marge Walker catalogs local murders in her scrapbook while obsessing over social hierarchies. Rachel Silverman puzzles everyone by moving south from Massachusetts after her husband's death. The staff caring for them brings their own struggles. C. J. runs the beauty shop despite being a young tattooed mother. Joanna volunteers with hospice patients and learns that helping people die well teaches her how to live. McCorkle weaves together their present circumstances with buried secrets from their pasts. As these lives intersect within Pine Haven's walls, the residents and caregivers discover unexpected connections. The novel finds wisdom in aging and hope in human resilience.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Fulton, North Carolina, Pine Haven Estates
Period: Present Day
352 pages · Hardcover · Algonquin Books