Synopses & Reviews
In the backwoods of Mississippi, Jewel and her husband are truly blessed; they have five fine children. When Brenda Kay is born in 1943, Jewel gives thanks for a healthy baby, last-born and most welcome.
Jewel is the story of how quickly a life can change; how an unforeseen event can set us on a course without reason or compass. In this story of a woman's devotion to the child who is both her burden and God's singular way of smiling on her, Bret Lott has created a mother-daughter relationship of matchless intensity and beauty, and one of the finest, most indomitable heroines in contemporary American fiction.
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The New York Times Book ReviewSweeping and beautifully written....a parable for our age.
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The Dallas Morning News[A] brilliant novel....This book is pure gift.
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The Los Angeles TimesLott is one of the most important and imaginative writers in America today. His eye for detail is unparalleled; his vision -- where he looks -- is like no one else's in this country.
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The Chicago TribuneBret Lott's Jewel is a beautifully crafted first-person epic of one poor Southern woman's personal duel with God....This is a voice we don't want to stop hearing....Some of the tenderest scenes of family love since those in Dickens.
About the Author
Bret Lott is a native of Los Angeles, California. His parents were raised in Mississippi and East Texas and relocated to Los Angeles in the 1950s. It is this Southern heritage -- going all the way back to the War Between the States -- that Mr. Lott has drawn on in writing
Jewel. He is the author of five highly acclaimed novels:
The Man Who Owned Vermont, A Stranger's House, Jewel, Reed's Beach, and
The Hunt Club, as well as two collections of widely anthologized short stories,
A Dream of Old Leaves and
How to Get Home, and a memoir,
Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. He lives with his wife and two sons near Charleston, South Carolina, and teaches at the College of Charleston and Vermont College.