Charlotte Bacon Book order

After a tragic loss, Arthur King relocates his family from New York to a small Wyoming town, seeking solace and connection in his childhood home. There, they are embraced by his resilient mother, who balances ranch life with activism against local drilling. As they navigate their grief, the Kings confront the stark beauty of their new environment and the emotional void left by their wife and mother. Through evocative prose, Charlotte Bacon captures their journey of healing and the challenges of rebuilding their lives in a landscape transformed by sorrow.

"A richly endowed memory piece...Bacon is a seductive and gifted storyteller."—Maureen Howard, author of A Lover's Almanac Anna Singer, a charmingly independent young New Yorker, feels derailed after losing her father to a car accident and her husband to a younger woman. She books a trip to India, hoping that there she will be able to put her grief into perspective. Though this is her first visit, India has always tantalized her: her English mother, Rose, was raised in Calcutta during the twilight of the British Raj, but seldom spoke of her childhood. Then, as Anna departs, Rose gives her a manuscript in which she has recorded her Indian memories, torn between two cultures and belonging completely to neither.

Exploring the human condition, this collection features 11 intricately crafted stories that traverse various themes and settings. It delves into the complexities of luck and love, the weight of sorrow and safety, and the fragility of marriages, all while employing a consistent narrative voice and recurring imagery.

Focusing on the theme of migration and its impact on family dynamics, the novel follows a Saskatchewan woman and her Scottish husband across sixty years, highlighting their independent daughter in Toronto and her granddaughter in France with her Turkish-English husband. Set against both rural and urban backdrops, the story delves into how these resilient characters adapt to new environments and cope with sudden loss, illustrating the transmission of survival instincts through generations.