If You Like Anne Tyler...
updated 4/09
A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons
In alternating chapters, Ruby and Jack Stokes tell of their adult lives: her elopement and hellish life with an abusive migrant farmer, Ruby and Jack's meeting and subsequently happy marriage, and their relationships with Jack's landlord and friend, Burr; his self-centered wife and son; and June, his lovely daughter, whom the Stokes love dearly. Gibbons develops distinct voices for Ruby and Jack, and their reminiscences paint vibrant portraits of themselves and others. Also try Divining Women.
The Finishing School by Gail Godwin
Justin Stokes would never forget the summer she turned fourteen, nor the woman who transformed her bleak adolescent life into a wondrous place of brilliant color. In the little pondside hut also known as the "finishing school," eccentric, free-spirited Ursula DeVane opened up a world full of magical possibilities for Justin, teaching her valuable lessons of love and loyalty, and encouraging her to change, to learn, to grow. But the lessons of the finishing school have their dark side as well, as Justin learns how deep friendship can be shattered by shocking, unforgivable betrayal. Also try Evensong and Father Melancholy’s Daughter.
The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
Pegged the loser in a small-town family that doesn't have much going for it in the first place, Ruth grows up in the shadow of her brilliant brother, trying to hold her own in a world of poverty and hard edges. Matt's brain is his ticket out of Honey Creek. Ruth, without options, cleaves instead to her tough, half-crazy mother, May, and eventually to Ruby, the sweet but slightly deranged young man she loves, marries, and supports. When the precarious household erupts in violence, Ruth is the only one who can piece their story together -- and she gets at the truth in a manner at once ferocious, hilarious, and heartbreaking.
Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman
In a rare and gorgeous departure, Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet: Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a man destined to betray her; Lysander, attacked by a halibut as big as a horse; Maya, who does not understand the true meaning of the love between her mother and father until it is nearly too late. For over 200 years, family after family’s lives are inexorably changed, not only by the people they love, but by the lives they lead. Also try Practical Magic and The Probable Future.
The World Below by Sue Miller
This novel showcases Miller's gift for exposing the nerves that lie hidden in marriages and families, and the hopes and regrets that lie buried in the hearts of women. When Catherine discovers the diary of her grandmother, Georgia, she gains insight into her family history. Georgia’s mother died when she was 16. Forced to assume the role of caretaker to her younger siblings, she at first feels lost and alone; then, miraculously, she begins to build an independent life, until the town doctor decides to send Georgia to a sanitarium. There she meets a young man and becomes his lover. Also try While I Was Gone.
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
Working with the Search and Rescue bloodhound team to find missing people, single mother Delia Hopkins anticipates her upcoming nuptials, until a series of unsettling flashbacks threatens to devastate her life and the lives of those she loves. Also try My Sister’s Keeper and Songs of the Humpback Whale.
Three Women by Marge Piercy
Suzanne Blume has known success and disappointment in equal measure. A respected lawyer who survived two marriages and put two children through college, she now faces the disquieting prospect of her wayward older daughter moving back home. But more troubling still is the news that her mother, a woman of legendary independence who has never truly accepted her daughter nor approved of her choices, has been felled by age and illness. And, for the first time in her life, she needs Suzanne's help. Also try The Third Child.
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
When Larry Cook, the aging patriarch of a rich, thriving farm in Iowa, decides to retire, he offers his land to his three daughters. For Ginny and Rose, who live on the farm with their husbands, the gift makes sense--a reward for years of hard work, a challenge to make the farm even more successful. But the youngest, Caroline, a Des Moines lawyer, flatly rejects the idea, and in anger her father cuts her out--setting off an explosive series of events that will leave none of them unchanged. A classic story of contemporary American life, A Thousand Acres strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a father, a daughter, and a family.