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The accidentals : a novel / Minrose Gwin.

"Following the death of their mother from a botched backwoods abortion, the McAlister daughters have to cope with the ripple effect of this tragedy as they come of age in 1950s Mississippi and then grow up to face their own impossible choices--an unforgettable, beautiful novel that is threaded throughout with the stories of mothers and daughters in pre-Roe versus Wade America. Life heads down back alleys, takes sharp left turns. Then, one fine day it jumps the track and crashes." In the fall of 1957, Olivia McAlister is living in Opelika, Mississippi, caring for her two girls, June and Grace, and her husband, Holly. She dreams of living a much larger life--seeing the world and returning to her wartime job at a landing boat factory in New Orleans. As she watches over the birds in her yard, Olivia feels like an "accidental"--a migratory bird blown off course. When Olivia becomes pregnant again, she makes a fateful decision, compelling Grace, June, and Holly to cope in different ways. While their father digs up the backyard to build a bomb shelter, desperate to protect his family, Olivia's spinster sister tries to take them all under her wing. But the impact of Olivia's decision reverberates throughout Grace's and June's lives. Grace, caught up in an unconventional love affair, becomes one of the "girls who went away" to have a baby in secret. June, guilt-ridden for her part in exposing Grace's pregnancy, eventually makes an unhappy marriage. Meanwhile Ed Mae Johnson, an African-American care worker in a New Orleans orphanage, is drastically impacted by Grace's choices. As the years go by, their lives intersect in ways that reflect the unpredictable nature of bird flight that lands in accidental locations--and the consolations of imperfect return. Filled with tragedy, humor, joy, and the indomitable strength of women facing the constricted spaces of the 1950s and 60s, The Accidentals is a poignant, timely novel that reminds us of the hope and consolation that can be found in unexpected landings"--

Item Information
Barcode Shelf Location Collection Volume Ref. Branch Status Due Date Res.
C9008197746 F GWI
Adult fiction   City Branch . . Available .  
. Catalogue Record 1012561 ItemInfo Beginning of record . Catalogue Record 1012561 ItemInfo Top of page .
Catalogue Information
Field name Details
ISBN 9780062471758
0062471759
Author Gwin, Minrose author.
Title The accidentals : a novel / Minrose Gwin.
Edition First edition.
Published New York, NY : William Morrow, [2019]
Physical description 381, 8 pages ; 21 cm.
General note "P.S. insights, interviews & more ..."--Cover.
Summary "Following the death of their mother from a botched backwoods abortion, the McAlister daughters have to cope with the ripple effect of this tragedy as they come of age in 1950s Mississippi and then grow up to face their own impossible choices--an unforgettable, beautiful novel that is threaded throughout with the stories of mothers and daughters in pre-Roe versus Wade America. Life heads down back alleys, takes sharp left turns. Then, one fine day it jumps the track and crashes." In the fall of 1957, Olivia McAlister is living in Opelika, Mississippi, caring for her two girls, June and Grace, and her husband, Holly. She dreams of living a much larger life--seeing the world and returning to her wartime job at a landing boat factory in New Orleans. As she watches over the birds in her yard, Olivia feels like an "accidental"--a migratory bird blown off course. When Olivia becomes pregnant again, she makes a fateful decision, compelling Grace, June, and Holly to cope in different ways. While their father digs up the backyard to build a bomb shelter, desperate to protect his family, Olivia's spinster sister tries to take them all under her wing. But the impact of Olivia's decision reverberates throughout Grace's and June's lives. Grace, caught up in an unconventional love affair, becomes one of the "girls who went away" to have a baby in secret. June, guilt-ridden for her part in exposing Grace's pregnancy, eventually makes an unhappy marriage. Meanwhile Ed Mae Johnson, an African-American care worker in a New Orleans orphanage, is drastically impacted by Grace's choices. As the years go by, their lives intersect in ways that reflect the unpredictable nature of bird flight that lands in accidental locations--and the consolations of imperfect return. Filled with tragedy, humor, joy, and the indomitable strength of women facing the constricted spaces of the 1950s and 60s, The Accidentals is a poignant, timely novel that reminds us of the hope and consolation that can be found in unexpected landings"--
In the fall of 1957, Olivia McAlister is living in Opelika, Mississippi, caring for her two girls, June and Grace, and her husband, Holly. She dreams of seeing the world and returning to her wartime job at a landing boat factory in New Orleans. Olivia feels like an "accidental"-- a migratory bird blown off course. When Olivia becomes pregnant again, a botched backwoods abortion leaves Grace, June, and Holly to cope in different ways. Holly digs up the backyard to build a bomb shelter, desperate to protect his family, while Olivia's spinster sister tries to take them all under her wing. As the years go by, their lives diverge and intersect in ways that reflect the unpredictable nature of bird flight. -- adapted from back cover.
Subject Mothers and daughters -- Fiction
Interpersonal relations -- Fiction
Nineteen fifties -- Fiction
Abortion -- Fiction
Sisters
Domestic fiction
Historical fiction
Mississippi -- Fiction
Catalogue Information 1012561 Beginning of record . Catalogue Information 1012561 Top of page .