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An elegant woman : a novel  Cover Image Book Book

An elegant woman : a novel / Martha McPhee.

McPhee, Martha, (author.).

Summary:

"For fans of Mary Beth Keane and Jennifer Egan, this powerful, moving multigenerational saga from National Book Award finalist Martha McPhee--ten years in the making--explores one family's story against the sweep of 20th century American history. Drawn from the author's own family history, An Elegant Woman is a story of discovery and reinvention, following four generations of women in one American family. As Isadora, a novelist, and two of her sisters sift through the artifacts of their forebears' lives, trying to decide what to salvage and what to toss, the narrative shifts to a winter day in 1910 at a train station in Ohio. Two girls wait in the winter cold with their mother--the mercurial Glenna Stewart--to depart for a new life in the West. As Glenna campaigns in Montana for women's suffrage and teaches in one-room schoolhouses, Tommy takes care of her little sister, Katherine: trapping animals, begging, keeping house, cooking, while Katherine goes to school. When Katherine graduates, Tommy makes a decision that will change the course of both of their lives. A profound meditation on memory, history, and legacy, An Elegant Woman follows one woman over the course of the 20th century, taking the reader from a drought-stricken farm in Montana to a yellow Victorian in Maine; from the halls of a psychiatric hospital in London to a wedding gown fitting at Bergdorf Goodman; from a house in small town Ohio to a family reunion at a sweltering New Jersey pig roast. Framed by Isadora's efforts to retell her grandmother's journey--and understand her own--the novel is an evocative exploration of the stories we tell ourselves, and what we leave out."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781501179570 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 405 pages ; 22 cm
  • Edition: First Scribner hardcover edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Scribner, 2020.
Subject: Families > Fiction.
Sisters > Fiction.
Mothers and daughters > Fiction.
Women > Conduct of life > Fiction.
United States > History > 20th century > Fiction.
United States > Social conditions > 20th century > Fiction.
Genre: Domestic fiction.
Historical fiction.
Social problem fiction.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Innisfil Public Library System. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Stroud Branch.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Stroud Branch FIC McPhe 31681010202398 FICTION Available -


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