Hannah Coulter : a novel / Wendell Berry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berry, Wendell, 1934-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Port William (Ky. : Imaginary place)--Fiction.

Port William (Ky. : Imaginary place).

Women.

Kentucky.

Women--Kentucky--Fiction.

Kentucky--Fiction.

Genre:

Fiction.

Pastoral fiction.

Physical Description:

190 pages : maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Shoemaker & Hoard, [2004]

Summary:

In the latest installment in Wendell Berry's long story about the citizens of Port William, Hannah Coulter remembers. Her first husband, Virgil, was declared "missing in action" shortly after the Battle of the Bulge, and after she married Nathan Coulter about all he could tell Hannah about the Battle of Okinawa was "Ignorant boys, killing each other." The community was stunned and diminished by the war, with some of its sons lost forever and others returning home determined to carry on. Now, in her late seventies, twice-widowed and alone, Hannah sorts through her memories: of her childhood, of young love and loss, of raising children and the changing seasons. She turns her plain gaze to a community facing its long deterioration, where, she says, "We feel the old fabric torn, pulling apart, and we know how much we have loved each other." Hannah offers her summation: her stories and her gratitude, for the membership in Port William, and for her whole life, a part of the great continuum of love and memory, grief and strength.

Contents:

2 A Steadman 6

3 The Future Shining Before Us 16

4 Virgil 20

5 What We Were 32

6 One of the Feltners, a Member of Port William 41

7 "Missing" 49

8 Nathan 61

9 Generosity 73

10 Our Place 81

11 The Membership 91

12 Burley 96

13 Ivy 102

14 The Room of Love 105

15 A Better Chance 111

16 M. B. Coulter 121

17 Caleb 126

18 Margaret 135

19 The Branches 146

20 The Living 157

21 Okinawa 167

22 Next? 174

23 Virge 181

24 Given 186

Map of Port William 192.

ISBN:

1593760361

OCLC:

55633984