by Eudora Welty
First published 1990
The August heat bears down on Banner, Mississippi as relatives stream into Granny Vaughn's house for her ninetieth birthday celebration. Three generations of family members fill the small home over two sweltering days. The Vaughns are born storytellers, and as they crowd together, old tales spill out one after another. Each voice carries its own rhythm and memories. Through their stories, decades of family history unfold. The tales reveal long-ago conflicts and disappointments that shaped their lives. Each generation remembers differently, and their competing versions of the past create new tensions in the present. The celebration becomes a reckoning with everything the family has endured and lost. At its heart, this is a story about how families hold together through their shared stories, even when those stories remind them of all the battles they could not win.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Banner, Mississippi
Period: August
436 pages · Paperback · Vintage