Synopses & Reviews
Brilliant, tomboyish Josephine Margaret Butler-better known as Jos-is the second oldest child in a large, poor family living in provincial Summit, Kentucky, in 1963. After her mother has a miscarriage and retreats into herself, Jos and her sister Ellie are faced with the responsibility of running the household and taking care of their siblings and their decidedly eccentric, sometimes brilliant, and always difficult father. The nation's mounting tensions over civil rights and the Vietnam War finally begin to infiltrate Summit at the same time that Jos begins to act upon her secret passion for women. During the course of this eventful year, Jos realizes that only one thing-her intellect-can provide escape from the stifling family dynamic and small town in which she is trapped.
Synopsis
The year is 1963 in small-town Summit, Kentucky, and the tomboyish Josephine Margaret Butler -- better known as Jos -- is the second oldest child in her large, poor family. Too smart for her own good, Jos, with her sister Ellie, must deal with running the household and caring for their siblings and difficult father after their mother retreats into herself following a miscarriage. At the same time that mounting tension over race relations and the Vietnam War begin to reach her insular hometown, Jos starts to act upon her secret passion for women. Over the course of one year, the stifling dynamic of her family and the town's resistance to the era's sweeping changes leave Jos only one route of escape: her intellect.
About the Author
Madelyn Arnold is the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of the novel
Bird Eyes and story collection
On Ships at Sea. She lives in Seattle.