Synopses & Reviews
In Beulah, Iowa, widow women all over town garden in the clothes of deceased husbands. From a distance, they often look like small-framed men. They keep their husbands' clothes because it's wasteful to throw away hats and shirts that still have wear in them. They wear the clothes in memory of the men they have survived, even after the scent of them has been laundered away.
Mack has lost his farm. After six generations of Iowa farming, the Barnes family has had to call it quits -- just barely saving the family home. Mack and Jodie, along with their two children, Kenzie and Young Taylor, are struggling to gain a foothold in this unfamiliar season of their life together. When Mack returns home after a brief stay in the psychiatric ward, it soon becomes clear that his depression is only the beginning of his troubles. Jodie tries to welcome him back; yet she has coped for so long, she cannot recognize her own desperation -- until she's drawn into the arms of another man. Fourteen-year-old Kenzie has turned to Jesus for comfort and believes if the family would just come back to their faith, they would all be happy again. Young Taylor, at seventeen, keeps his distance from everyone and plagues his parents with his unseemly Goth attire and attitude. And Rita, Mack's mother and the family matriarch, simply works harder to care for her family, in ways both helpful and annoying. The family's efforts to stick together through these unsettling times seem only to be driving them irrevocably apart.
Despite the fear and isolation caused by the tragedies of the Barnes family in the last few years, love reveals its stubborn resilience. Dwelling Places is a story that captures thespirit of the American heartland and the complexity of human relationships as it follows Mack and Jodie and their family on a search for a place where mind and heart can live peacefully at last.
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“A simple, graceful .... stunningly beautiful novel that is both true-to-life and, in its way, uplifting.” Chicago Sun-Times
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“A poignant story. A glimmer of grace.” Christian Science Monitor
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“Wrights scenes move along almost magically...Her feel for an Iowa farm town is achingly precise. Booklist (starred review)
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“Wrights characters, as compelling in their strength as in their imperfection, move slowly toward secure and welcoming spaces…” Christian Century
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“An extraordinarily well-observed, contemplative novel…” Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette
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“In this extraordinarily well-observed, contemplative novel, Wright manages an astounding level of honesty and plenty of wry humor... ” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“[A] story as rich and deep, as heartbreaking and as fruitful, as the heartland loam itself.” Tim Farrington, author of Lizzie's War and The Monk Downstairs
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“There is no more skilled or sympathetic a raconteur of Americas heartland and Americas ordinary folk than Vinita Hampton Wright.” Phyllis Tickle, author of The Divine Hours
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“Dwelling Places will inevitably be compared to Jane Smileys Pulitzer Prize-winning A Thousand Acres.” Books & Culture
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“A captivating, heart-warming book.” Romantic Times BOOKclub
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“Wright evokes a sense of place that will resonate with any reader who has ties to the Midwestern landscape.” Christianity Today
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“An affecting novel. . . both provocative and sage.” Entertainment Weekly
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“If youre looking for complex characterizations, a satisfying read, and something to draw out tears, I highly recommend DWELLING PLACES.” Faithful Reader
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“Few novelists are as wise and compassionate as Vinita Hampton Wright. Dwelling Places broke my heart and renewed my spirit.” Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone
Synopsis
Mack and Jodie have no idea how much their lives are going to change when they decide to give up farming. Mack is hospitalized with depression, Jodie finds herself tempted by the affections of another man, and their teenage children begin looking for answers outside the family—Kenzie turns to fundamentalist Christianity, and Taylor starts cavorting with Goths. Told in the unforgettable voices of each family member, this powerful story of family life reveals the stubborn resilience of love and how sometimes the very thing we're looking for has been waiting at home all along.
About the Author
Vinita Hampton Wright, a novelist and editor who conducts creative writing workshops at conferences and retreats around the country, is the author of the novella The Winter Seeking and the novels Velma Still Cooks in Leeway and Grace at Bender Springs, as well as numerous nonfiction titles.