by Jane Smiley
First published 2014
Rosanna and Walter Langdon raise five children on their farm in Denby, Iowa, starting in the years after World War I. Frank arrives first, brilliant but headstrong. Joe follows with a natural gift for animals and farming. Lillian grows into an angelic daughter who marries a man she alone truly understands. Henry buries himself in books and embraces his differences. Claire wins her father's deepest affection. The family lives by traditional values as the children grow and eventually leave the farm for cities like New York and California. The story spans three decades through the early 1950s, tracking births and deaths, love affairs and betrayals. Farm life shapes their early years, but the wider world pulls them in different directions. Each child carves out a distinct path while carrying forward what their parents taught them. The novel captures how one family experiences the massive changes that swept America in the first half of the twentieth century.
Genres: family, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Denby, Iowa
Period: Early 20th Century, Post-World War I
395 pages · Hardcover · Knopf