Jennifer Haigh's second novel is an intimate portrait of love and
family, which will appeal to fans of Anne Tyler and Carol Shields.
Stanley Novak is a first-generation Polish immigrant. Seeking a
better life, he settles in Bakerton and finds work in the booming
local mine. He meets and marries Rose, a shy, beautiful Italian
girl. They move to a mine-owned house in an area of town known as
Polish Hill, teeming with immigrants from all over Europe, all
chasing the American Dream. Five children follow for the Novaks.
The Novak children belong to what will someday be known as the
Greatest Generation, but for now, they are just trying to find
their identities in a vastly changing world. The five children
could not be more different. The eldest, George, avoids signing up
but is drafted to the Pacific when America joins the war. He comes
home determined to leave Bakerton behind, but finds it much more
difficult the second time around. Dorothy is a fragile and naive
girl, who finds it hard to cope with her desk job in Washington.
Joyce, fiercely intelligent, must hold the family together and
remains bitterly aware of the life that she could have had. Sandy,
the youngest boy, swans through life with his movie-star looks,
never taking responsibility for his actions. And Lucy, the
youngest, must find her own path in the shadow of her formidable
siblings. Haigh gives us a beautiful snapshot of a small town - of
company houses and union squabbles; the boom and bust of the
post-war years; the immigrant neighbourhoods of Swedetown, Little
Italy and Polish Hill; the miners, undertakers, soldiers, firemen
and housewives who populate the town and bring it to life.
General
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