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From the book jacket: The mesmerizing
story of three generations of women confronting the emotional
turmoil of abandonment, and the men with whom their lives
converge. Young and ambitious Anna puts her career on hold to
support her husband through medical school, only to find out
she's pregnant when it's her turn. Troubled and difficult from
the start, Anna's daughter, Poppy, hasn't been home since she
drove away with the man who came to buy the family's VW bus.
After a twelve-year absence, Poppy begs to reunite with her
now widowed mother, only to disappear again, leaving her
mysterious and wildly imaginative young daughter, Flynn, in
Anna's care.
This is also the story of Jack and Stuart, a couple struggling
with commitment despite their love for one another. When Jack
and Stuart meet Anna in a support group, they feel a
connection that eventually leads them to form a loving, if
unlikely, family.
Comment: If you enjoy multigenerational family sagas focusing
on women this one's for you. Publishers Weekly describes it as
'stunning' and Booklist says it is an 'engrossing family
drama', Kirkus Reviews is a little more cautious opining that
it is 'freshly narrated' but 'longer and rather more drawn out
that it needs to be'. As always, decide for yourself by
browsing an excerpt at BookBrowse.
This review first ran in the May 18, 2005 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.
If you liked Above The Thunder, try these:
A precisely observed, superbly crafted novel, The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver charts the dramatic changes in the lives of three generations of one remarkable family, and the summer place that both shelters and isolates them.
Set in the high-country of Wyoming, this is a riveting tale of hard-won friendship, old wounds, fresh pain and love lost and found.
These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves
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