by Mona Simpson
First published 2001
Bea Maxwell once organized fundraisers as a Green Bay high school student. Now she sells real estate and knits intricate patterns. She has built a successful career and earned respect in her community. Romance remains absent from her life. Bea accepts this reality and embraces her position as an elegant unmarried woman devoted to worthy causes. Her neighbors also chose to remain in Green Bay rather than seek opportunities elsewhere. The town changes around them as years pass. Residents age and adapt to new circumstances. Their interconnected stories reveal how people create meaning within the boundaries they set for themselves. Bea discovers that a life without traditional romantic fulfillment can still hold purpose and satisfaction.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: Green Bay
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
180 pages · Paperback · Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group