First published 1988
The Whipples gather in their sprawling Victorian home as everything falls apart around them. Their grand mansion, once a symbol of family pride, now stands as a monument to decay and lost fortune. Each family member brings their own broken dreams and failures back to the ancestral house. They cling to the familiar rooms and fading grandeur while their individual lives splinter beyond repair. The house becomes both refuge and prison as they struggle against forces that threaten to scatter them forever. Williams captures a family's last stand against time and circumstance, showing how people fight hardest for what they're already losing.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, generational-conflict
Setting: United States
Period: 20th Century
535 pages · Paperback · Anchor