Interesting.
Wonderful story, short but deals well with a tough subject. Back of the book says:
How well do we know the people we love? Chessman examines this question in three generations of women in a contemporary family. As dementia overtakes Hannah Pearl, she slips backward in memory to her escape from France in 1940: boarding the ferry with her heavy bags; the whistle of bombs raining down on London; the family she left behind. Her daughter Miranda, distraught by Hannah's fading lucidity and sudden switch to her childhood French, tries desperately to hold her in the present. Fiona, a new mother and the older of Hannah's two granddaughters, ignores the ghosts of her grandmother's past, while her sister, fiery Ida, seeks to delve into Hannah's story, eventually returning to France to find the roots of her grandmother's life--and her own.
How well do we know the people we love? Chessman examines this question in three generations of women in a contemporary family. As dementia overtakes Hannah Pearl, she slips backward in memory to her escape from France in 1940: boarding the ferry with her heavy bags; the whistle of bombs raining down on London; the family she left behind. Her daughter Miranda, distraught by Hannah's fading lucidity and sudden switch to her childhood French, tries desperately to hold her in the present. Fiona, a new mother and the older of Hannah's two granddaughters, ignores the ghosts of her grandmother's past, while her sister, fiery Ida, seeks to delve into Hannah's story, eventually returning to France to find the roots of her grandmother's life--and her own.
This is a bittersweet story of a woman who is slowing losing her memory while she resides in a nursing home.
This is a story about a young girl who grows older and tell the story of her mother who is also growing older. The mother went thru WWII and the devestation it leaves behind.
"Told through the voices of four women, the novel intricately reveals the fleetingness of memory and the delicate lacework of love between mothers and daughters. This is a lovely and poignant story to savor." - Booklist
The captivating story of a contemporary American family, in which three generations of women confront the intricacies of memory, geography, and motherhood, from the lauded author of Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper.
As Hannah Pearl's memories of her 1940 escape to England from war-torn France come to the foreground of her consciousness, her memory of her more recent American life, including her relationships with her daughter and granddaughters, is almost erased. Her daughter, Miranda, attempts to bring her mother into the present and the daily activities of family life, yet finds herself instead pulled into Hannah's unresolved past. Miranda's daughters confront the shadows of history in their own ways. Fiona, content with her life as a new mother, tries to ignore the ghostly presence of Hannah's family, who perished in the war, while Ida clings to Hannah's revelations as if they form a lifeline. Facing the mystery of Hannah's unspoken memories of grief, each woman must ask how well anyone can know the inner life of another person, even of someone one cherishes.
The captivating story of a contemporary American family, in which three generations of women confront the intricacies of memory, geography, and motherhood, from the lauded author of Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper.
As Hannah Pearl's memories of her 1940 escape to England from war-torn France come to the foreground of her consciousness, her memory of her more recent American life, including her relationships with her daughter and granddaughters, is almost erased. Her daughter, Miranda, attempts to bring her mother into the present and the daily activities of family life, yet finds herself instead pulled into Hannah's unresolved past. Miranda's daughters confront the shadows of history in their own ways. Fiona, content with her life as a new mother, tries to ignore the ghostly presence of Hannah's family, who perished in the war, while Ida clings to Hannah's revelations as if they form a lifeline. Facing the mystery of Hannah's unspoken memories of grief, each woman must ask how well anyone can know the inner life of another person, even of someone one cherishes.
