Unsheltered : a novel / Barbara Kingsolver.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kingsolver, Barbara, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Courage.

Vineland (N.J.)--Fiction.

Vineland (N.J.).

Courage--Fiction.

Religious fiction.

Social change--Fiction.

Social change.

Families--Fiction.

Families.

Sagas.

Historical fiction.

Local Subjects:

Vineland (N.J.)--Fiction.

Genre:

Fiction.

Domestic fiction.

Historical fiction.

Novels.

Physical Description:

464 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2018]

Summary:

How could two hardworking people do everything right in life, a woman asks, and end up destitute? Willa Knox and her husband followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where Willa worked has folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. Their dubious shelter is also the only option for a disabled father-in-law and an exasperating, free-spirited daughter. When the family's one success story, an Ivy-educated son, is uprooted by tragedy he seems likely to join them, with dark complications of his own. In another time, a troubled husband and public servant asks, How can a man tell the truth, and be reviled for it? A science teacher with a passion for honest investigation, Thatcher Greenwood finds himself under siege: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. In a village ostensibly founded as a benevolent Utopia, Thatcher wants only to honor his duties, but his friendships with a woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor threaten to draw him into a vendetta with the town's powerful men. Unsheltered is the compulsively readable story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum in Vineland, New Jersey, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. With history as their tantalizing canvas, these characters paint a startlingly relevant portrait of life in precarious times when the foundations of the past have failed to prepare us for the future.-- Publisher's description.

At the corner of Sixth and Plum in Vineland, New Jersey two families live in the same house-- centuries apart. Willa and Iano Knox followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where she worked folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The household includes her disabled father-in-law and a daughter; their newly-widowed son Zeke and his own newborn son will soon join them. In a different time, Thatcher Greenwood, a science teacher, has been forbidden to speak of the work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. Each family lives in precarious times-- and the foundations of the past have failed to prepare either for the future. -- adapted from publisher info

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Schneidman Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780062684561

0062684566

OCLC:

1019922367