by David Plante
First published 1978
Reena and Jim Francoeur raise seven sons in a tight-knit French-Canadian community somewhere in New England. The parish feels both protective and confining, where everyone knows each other's business and traditions run deep. Daily life brings small tensions that build into larger conflicts. The boys grow restless. Money grows tight. Old ways clash with new pressures from the outside world. Jim works to provide while Reena manages the household, but their efforts to maintain unity face constant challenges. Each crisis tests whether the bonds between parents and children can survive the forces pulling them apart. The Francoeurs discover that keeping a large family intact requires more than love and good intentions.
Genres: fiction, family, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, intimate
Setting: New England
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
301 pages · Paperback · Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)