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Melba's wash / Reesa Steinman Brotherton.
Van Pelt Library PR9199.4.B75795 M45 2019
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Brotherton, Reesa Steinman, author.
- Series:
- Essential prose series ; 166.
- Essential prose series ; 166
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Women--Identity--Fiction.
- Women.
- Family secrets--Fiction.
- Family secrets.
- Women--Identity.
- Genre:
- Fiction.
- Domestic fiction.
- Psychological fiction.
- Novels.
- Physical Description:
- xv, 212 pages ; 23 cm.
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- Toronto ; Buffalo ; Lancaster (U.K.) : Guernica editions, 2019.
- Summary:
- "Melba's Wash is a rich telling of the archetypal search. In this fractured familial story, Esther Prat wraps her fingers with her diamond necklace and reflects on the secrets, lies, and pain that haunt her life, and makes her choice. Born on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, as an infant she is unceremoniously taken to Montreal, Quebec, to spend the first ten years of her life brought up in an affluent Jewish family. At the age of ten, upon the death of her "daddy", she is without explanation not allowed to attend his funeral and is taken on a train destined for New Brunswick, back to the poverty stricken environment of her family of origin. The resulting culture shock results in emotional and spiritual torment, undermining her self-esteem and sense of identity. On into life, marriage, children, divorce, a devastating flood, geographical moves, and a battle with pharmaceutical drugs, she struggles to maintain equilibrium and balance of past and present."-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Part I
- Chapter 1 The Island p. 2
- Chapter 2 Deer Curve p. 5
- Chapter 3 Birth Day p. 8
- Chapter 4 The Naming p. 11
- Chapter 5 Frieda's Baby p. 14
- Chapter 6 Just Like a Woman, eh? p. 22
- Chapter 7 Queen For A Day p. 24
- Part II
- Chapter 8 Good Beginnings p. 28
- Chapter 9 Trying On Boys p. 35
- Chapter 10 Good and Oak and Two Pregnant p. 38
- Chapter 11 Your Sorry Looking Face p. 40
- Chapter 12 Montreal 1945 p. 42
- Chapter 13 Melba's Tune p. 50
- Chapter 14 Life's Just Not Fair p. 56
- Chapter 15 Esther Girling p. 58
- Part III
- Chapter 16 Esther Weinstein p. 64
- Chapter 17 1962 p. 68
- Chapter 18 The Little Brown Coat p. 73
- Chapter 19 The Counting Room p. 75
- Chapter 20 Over My Dead Body p. 78
- Chapter 21 Birthing a Bathroom p. 84
- Chapter 22 No Kleenex on Deer Curve p. 88
- Part IV
- Chapter 23 Out the Kitchen Door p. 94
- Chapter 25 The Washcloth p. 101
- Chapter 26 Making Believe p. 103
- Chapter 27 Minced Meat p. 105
- Chapter 28 Esther is a Television p. 109
- Chapter 29 Getting to Know You p. 111
- Chapter 30 Miller's Font p. 116
- Chapter 31 Liar Liar p. 119
- Part V
- Chapter 32 End of Summer p. 124
- Chapter 33 Fall p. 126
- Chapter 35 Some Spring p. 135
- Chapter 36 Another Summer p. 138
- Chapter 37 Victor Woods p. 142
- Chapter 38 Willa Cather's Cottage p. 149
- Part VI
- Chapter 39 Saint John p. 162
- Chapter 40 Arriving Halifax p. 165
- Chapter 41 The Prat Family p. 171
- Part VII
- Chapter 42 Glass Walls p. 178
- Part VIII
- Chapter 43 High River Flood p. 186
- Chapter 44 Squatting p. 194
- Chapter 45 Grand Manan Island p. 197
- Chapter 46 Good Riddance p. 201
- Chapter 47 Dark Harbour p. 207.
- Other Format:
- Online version: Brotherton, Reesa Steinman. Melba's wash.
- ISBN:
- 9781771834001
- 1771834005
- 9781771834018
- 1771834013
- 9781771834025
- 1771834021
- OCLC:
- 1081304346
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