In 1903, Isaac Partridge marries a woman who has reinvented herself, not unlike Hallie Brady. In the Civil War, an injured Partridge finds a reason to live when he falls in love with the war widow of Amy’s nephew. Amy’s “ghost” will appear to future generations. In 1816, another outsider helps find the drowned body of six-year-old Amy Starr before eloping with her older sister. In 1792, Johnny (Appleseed) Chapman, the first of many outsiders who drift through, plants a Tree of Life in the center of town. After her daughter’s husband Harry Partridge mistakenly kills her most beloved bear in her back garden, she disappears and Harry buries the bear. Hallie Brady, who saves her fellow settlers from starvation by catching eels in the river, has a special, perhaps mystical affinity for the local bears. In 14 freestanding but consecutive stories, Hoffman ( The Story Sisters, 2009, etc.) traces the life of the town of Blackwell, Mass., from its founding in 1750 up to the present as the founders’ descendents connect to the land and each other.
0 kommentar(er)
