Two families, the Planks and the Dickersons, are mysteriously entwined in this exquisite novel that centers on decades of life at a New Hampshire farm. Youngest daughters Ruth Plank and Dana Dickerson, born on the same day in the same hospital, take turns narrating the struggles they face as children. Ruth feels a coldness from her mother; Dana is unsettled by her kooky parents constantly uprooting her and her brother Ray. Regardless, the Planks pay a yearly visit to the Dickersons no matter where they've ended up living. As the girls come of age, Ruth takes an interest in art, sex, and Dana's brother, Ray, with whom she later reunites, at Woodstock, in a swirl of drugs and mud. Meanwhile, Dana realizes that her desires are directed toward women and sets off to pursue agricultural studies at a university, where she meets Clarice, an assistant professor. As time goes by, the floundering Plank Farm is in danger of being seized by Ruth's former boyfriend, a man who has had his eye on the land for years. As Ruth and Dana pursue love, contemplate children, and search for home, the truth of what unites their families is finally--at long last--revealed, in this beautifully written book. (Sept.)
The Good Daughters: A Novel
Narrated by Joyce Maynard, Rebecca Tuttle, Jeff Woodman
Joyce MaynardUnabridged — 8 hours, 59 minutes
The Good Daughters: A Novel
Narrated by Joyce Maynard, Rebecca Tuttle, Jeff Woodman
Joyce MaynardUnabridged — 8 hours, 59 minutes
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Overview
“A story of choices and events so intimate I felt I was part of it. The novel is wrenching, the emotions radiant, and it will leave readers transformed”
-Luanne Rice, author of The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners
“Joyce Maynard has outdone herself in this beautifully written story you'll find hard to put down and impossible to forget.”
-*Elizabeth Berg, author of The Last Time I Saw You
*
Bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Labor Day, Joyce Maynard now brings us The Good Daughters, a spellbinding novel about friendship, family secrets, and the strange, unexpected twists of fate that shape our lives. The story of two women born the same day in the same hospital, but raised in vastly different emotional environments, The Good Daughters is another high note in Maynard's already distinguished writing career.
Editorial Reviews
Maynard’s spare prose packs a rich emotional punch...a can’t put-it-down mystery.” — People on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“[Maynard] weav(es) a knotty tale of family secrets, told in the alternating voices of her likable main characters.” — Entertainment Weekly on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“I am hard pressed to think of anything I’ve read that more honestly and eloquently expresses both the perils and the pleasures of love. Joyce Maynard has outdone herself in this beautifully written story you’ll find hard to put down, and impossible to forget.” — Elizabeth Berg, author of The Last Time I Saw You
“ THE GOOD DAUGHTERS, weaves a story of choices and events so intimate I felt I was part of it. The novel is wrenching, the emotions radiant, and will leave readers transformed.” — Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners
“Joyce Maynard is in top-notch form with Labor Day. From the perfect pitch of a teenaged boy narrator to the eloquent message of how loneliness can bind people together, this is simply a novel you cannot miss.” — Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and Handle With Care
“Labor Day is suffused with tenderness, dreaminess and love . . . first and foremost a page-turner . . . [it] puts back together the world that it destroys . . . .you definitely need to get a box of tissues.” — Newsday
“[The] story is moving and fast-moving, affirming Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and showing her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart. . . . Maynard illuminates the human experience.” — People (Four Stars)
“Riveting and disturbing.” — Katha Pollitt, New York Times Book Review on At Home in the World
“But apart from being a successful thriller, this book is a fascinating portrait of what causes a family to founder, and how much it can cost to put it back on the right path. ” — NPR.org
“Beautifully written.” — New Orleans Times-Picayune
“A sometimes painful tale, but captivating and surprisingly moving.” — Publishers Weekly
“It is a testament to Maynard’s skill that she makes this ominous setup into a convincing and poignant coming-of-age tale.” — Washington Post
“Maynard expertly tugs heartstrings in a tidy tale. ” — Kirkus Reviews
“Maynard details Henry’s roller-coaster emotions for Frank – he is both jealous and grateful – and his mother’s emotional journeys – with skill and tenderness for the uncertain willingness of broken hearts to mend. The poignant results are revealing of our ability to forgive and to grow.” — Smart Money
“Maynard deftly pulls the reader into the fragile lives of these three vulnerable characters and their preordained march toward the novel’s denouement. A marvelous read-perfect for one long sitting-this novel leaves the reader wishing it didn’t ever have to end.” — BookPage
“Labor Day is both a coming-of-age story and a love story- a tale of profound loss, redemption and soul searching that is not to be missed.” — www.MyDailyFind.com
“Labor Day is a startling novel of love, friendship, trust, treachery, betrayal, and the deep lessons that we learn in life.... It’s a powerful, poignant mix in the hands of author Joyce Maynard and a novel no one should miss.” — www.Gather.com
“Maynard spins a fascinating story of damaged people seeking the one thing they long for – love. ” — Wichita Falls, TX, Times Record News
“Maynard offers fresh insight into what constitutes family.” — USA Today
“Maynard is in top form in this tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.” — Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
“Maynard has created an ensemble of characters that will sneak into your heart, and warm it while it breaks.” — St. Petersburg Times
“Maynard gets inside the head of an adolescent boy who is grappling with his own identity and the mysteries of sex (while revealing the secrets of making perfect pie crust). ” — Salt Lake City Tribune
“Powerful.” — Newark Star Ledger
“Maynard’s inventive coming-of-age tale indelibly captures the anxiety and confusion inherent in adolescence, while the addition of a menacing element of suspense makes this emotionally fraught journey that much more harrowing.” — Booklist
“Maynard...is in top form in this tale of love, betrayal and forgiveness.” — Record Searchlight (Redding, CA)
“Unique and chilling.” — Detroit News
“The novel is an extended meditation on the nature of love, grief and loneliness.... Maynard has created an ensemble of characters that will sneak into your heart, and warm it while it breaks. ” — St. Petersburg Times
“Surprisingly moving.” — Arizona Republic
“A haunting and hopeful story.” — Hartford Courant
“Absorbing.” — More Magazine on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Maynard is a clever storyteller.” — Seattle Times on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Vividly rendered.” — Tampa Tribune on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“An impressive writer...with a fine sense of time, of place, of humor.” — Buffalo News on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Unexpected and heartbreaking…. Arguably [Maynard’s] best work yet.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“In addition to being a beautiful and engaging story, Maynard deftly captures Dana’s struggle to come to terms with her sexuality in the midst of her family’s instability. And her relationship with Clarice is one of the strongest in the novel. Highly recommended. ” — AfterEllen.com on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“The Good Daughters shows Maynard’s strengths once again—particularly in vivid descriptions of farm life, geographies, and relationships of all kinds. Passions and psychological changes in a character over time ring most true.” — Providence Journal
“Rich and realistic . . . touching.” — Library Journal
“An evocative story . . . [Maynard] consistently brings emotional authenticity to the long arc of her characters’ lives and to the joy and loss they experience. A profoundly moving chronicle of the primacy of family connection.” — Booklist on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Exquisite . . . . [A] beautifully written book.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on THE GOOD DAUGTHERS
[The] story is moving and fast-moving, affirming Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and showing her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart. . . . Maynard illuminates the human experience.
I am hard pressed to think of anything I’ve read that more honestly and eloquently expresses both the perils and the pleasures of love. Joyce Maynard has outdone herself in this beautifully written story you’ll find hard to put down, and impossible to forget.
But apart from being a successful thriller, this book is a fascinating portrait of what causes a family to founder, and how much it can cost to put it back on the right path.
Maynard’s spare prose packs a rich emotional punch...a can’t put-it-down mystery.
Riveting and disturbing.
THE GOOD DAUGHTERS, weaves a story of choices and events so intimate I felt I was part of it. The novel is wrenching, the emotions radiant, and will leave readers transformed.
Beautifully written.
Joyce Maynard is in top-notch form with Labor Day. From the perfect pitch of a teenaged boy narrator to the eloquent message of how loneliness can bind people together, this is simply a novel you cannot miss.
Labor Day is suffused with tenderness, dreaminess and love . . . first and foremost a page-turner . . . [it] puts back together the world that it destroys . . . .you definitely need to get a box of tissues.
[Maynard] weav(es) a knotty tale of family secrets, told in the alternating voices of her likable main characters.
Maynard spins a fascinating story of damaged people seeking the one thing they long for – love.
Maynard is a clever storyteller.
Labor Day is a startling novel of love, friendship, trust, treachery, betrayal, and the deep lessons that we learn in life.... It’s a powerful, poignant mix in the hands of author Joyce Maynard and a novel no one should miss.
Vividly rendered.
Maynard’s inventive coming-of-age tale indelibly captures the anxiety and confusion inherent in adolescence, while the addition of a menacing element of suspense makes this emotionally fraught journey that much more harrowing.
Labor Day is both a coming-of-age story and a love story- a tale of profound loss, redemption and soul searching that is not to be missed.
Powerful.
Maynard has created an ensemble of characters that will sneak into your heart, and warm it while it breaks.
Unexpected and heartbreaking…. Arguably [Maynard’s] best work yet.
An impressive writer...with a fine sense of time, of place, of humor.
Maynard gets inside the head of an adolescent boy who is grappling with his own identity and the mysteries of sex (while revealing the secrets of making perfect pie crust).
Maynard offers fresh insight into what constitutes family.
Absorbing.
The Good Daughters shows Maynard’s strengths once again—particularly in vivid descriptions of farm life, geographies, and relationships of all kinds. Passions and psychological changes in a character over time ring most true.
Maynard...is in top form in this tale of love, betrayal and forgiveness.
Surprisingly moving.
A haunting and hopeful story.
It is a testament to Maynard’s skill that she makes this ominous setup into a convincing and poignant coming-of-age tale.
An evocative story . . . [Maynard] consistently brings emotional authenticity to the long arc of her characters’ lives and to the joy and loss they experience. A profoundly moving chronicle of the primacy of family connection.
Maynard deftly pulls the reader into the fragile lives of these three vulnerable characters and their preordained march toward the novel’s denouement. A marvelous read-perfect for one long sitting-this novel leaves the reader wishing it didn’t ever have to end.
Maynard details Henry’s roller-coaster emotions for Frank – he is both jealous and grateful – and his mother’s emotional journeys – with skill and tenderness for the uncertain willingness of broken hearts to mend. The poignant results are revealing of our ability to forgive and to grow.
Maynard is in top form in this tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.
Unique and chilling.
In addition to being a beautiful and engaging story, Maynard deftly captures Dana’s struggle to come to terms with her sexuality in the midst of her family’s instability. And her relationship with Clarice is one of the strongest in the novel. Highly recommended.
Maynard’s inventive coming-of-age tale indelibly captures the anxiety and confusion inherent in adolescence, while the addition of a menacing element of suspense makes this emotionally fraught journey that much more harrowing.
It is a testament to Maynard’s skill that she makes this ominous setup into a convincing and poignant coming-of-age tale.
Maynard offers fresh insight into what constitutes family.
Unique and chilling.
Maynard is in top form in this tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173488541 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 10/12/2010 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 907,015 |
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