I loved the complex unspooling of the story and the characters. Each time I thought I had a handle on a character or relationship, another layer was revealed. In addition, the book vividly planted me (ha ha pun intended) deep into farm life--the smells, physical pain, cold, heat, dust, manure, blisters, aches, and inevitable pattern of the seasons.
This powerful twentieth-century reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear centers on a wealthy Iowa farmer who decides to divide his farm among his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will, which sets in motion a chain of events that brings dark truths to light. Ambitiously conceived and stunningly written, A Thousand Acres spins the most fundamental themes of truth, justice, love, and pride into a universally acclaimed masterpiece.
To be honest, at first I was put off by the "crotchety old lady" personality of Sybil, the main character, and the epistolary style. But as I read on, I was totally absorbed by the brilliant way the plot lines interweave and undercut each other, and Sybil's growing self-realization.
Discover the emotional, funny, unforgettable BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, Amazon Best Book of 2025 and New York Times bestselling word-of-mouth sensation that thousands of readers are calling their favourite book of the year...
Over 30,000 five star reviews on Goodreads!
'THIS NOVEL IS A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION' Ann Patchett
'I WAS DELIGHTED AND MOVED . . . MASTERFUL' New York Times
'I CAN'T PRAISE IT ENOUGH. AN ABSOLUTE TRIUMPH' Clare Chambers
'THIS NOVEL IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER JOY' Ann Napolitano
'I DON'T HAVE ANY WORDS. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL STORY' Reader review
The book brilliantly interweaves several plot lines and mysteries, subtly laying out the clues. I also loved the immersion in an Israel we don't usually hear about--the back streets, small apartments, and a medical hospice of a decade ago.
A follow up to her National Jewish Book Award-winning debut novel, in the aftermath of the breakup of her marriage, a once famous actress of the Yiddish theater travels to Tel-Aviv to revisit the apartment she once shared with her husband
Soon after, she finds herself at the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition Hospice in Jaffa, a sanitorium, run by a group of nuns. Unclear as to how she got there, she begins to piece together the events that led her to this moment. From New York to Tel -Aviv, and the Siberian gulag, The World Between explores…
"I'm only telling you in case the police contact you. Esme was arrested, but I'm handling everything, and she doesn't want to hear from you."
That email from her ex-husband is almost the only information Alice Wilson has had about her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Esme, in the six years since Esme abruptly ended all communication.
As Alice, an environmental activist, scrambles to learn why Esme was arrested and what might happen next, she inevitably also rethinks the past. Her obsessive search up and down the California coast antagonizes her friends and jeopardizes her job. But none of that matters to Alice as she uncovers hints of a daughter she'd never known-and of her then-husband's role in their estrangement, even while they were married.
Who is the Robert Corning who was arrested with Esme, and why did she pay his bail? Why did Esme become bulimic in college? Why is she continuing to push Alice away while still being chummy with her father? Most importantly, will Esme agree to meet with Alice? And if she does, will Alice say the wrong thing-whatever that wrong thing is?
