First published 2008
Pearlie has built her world around duty. In 1953 San Francisco's Sunset district, she tends to her ailing husband and cares for their son, who struggles with polio. Her days follow familiar patterns of medicine schedules and household routines. The fog rolls in from the Pacific, and life moves at the pace of recovery and small domestic victories. Then a stranger arrives at her front door on an ordinary Saturday morning. This unexpected visitor carries knowledge that threatens to unravel everything Pearlie believes about her marriage and her carefully constructed life. The revelation forces her to confront truths she has buried beneath years of caretaking and compromise. As Pearlie navigates this crisis, she must decide what she owes to others and what she owes to herself. Her choices will reshape not only her own future but the lives of everyone she loves. In the conservative climate of 1950s America, some secrets carry devastating consequences, and some truths demand courage Pearlie isn't sure she possesses.
Genres: domestic-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: secrets, small-town
Setting: San Francisco, Sunset District
Period: 1953
ebook · Faber & Faber Digital