The Quickening (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781590513460)

A July 2010 Indie Next Pick

Enidina Current and Mary Morrow live on neighboring farms in the flat, hard country of the upper Midwest during the early 1900s. This hardscrabble life comes easily to some, like Eddie, who has never wanted more than the land she works and the animals she raises on it with her husband, Frank. But for the deeply religious Mary, farming is an awkward living and at odds with her more cosmopolitan inclinations. Still, Mary creates a clean and orderly home life for her stormy husband, Jack, and her sons, while she adapts to the isolation of a rural town through the inspiration of a local preacher. She is the first to befriend Eddie in a relationship that will prove as rugged as the ground they walk on. Despite having little in common, Eddie and Mary need one another for survival and companionship. But as the Great Depression threatens, the delicate balance of their reliance on one another tips, pitting neighbor against neighbor, exposing the dark secrets they hide from one another, and triggering a series of disquieting events that threaten to unravel not only their friendship but their families as well.
In this luminous and unforgettable debut, Michelle Hoover explores the polarization of the human soul in times of hardship and the instinctual drive for self-preservation by whatever means necessary. The Quickening stands as a novel of lyrical precision and historical consequence, reflecting the resilience and sacrifices required even now in our modern troubled times.

For information, tour dates, and reading group resources, visit www.michellehoover.net.

Author: Michelle Hoover
ISBN-10: 1590513460
ISBN-13: 9781590513460
Publisher: Other Press (NY)
Language: English
Published: 06/29/2010
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.18h x 5.56w x 0.70d
Award: Indies Choice Book Awards - Finalist
Award: Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2010
Publishers Weekly 05/10/2010 pg. 1
Booklist 06/01/2010 pg. 32
Library Journal 07/01/2010 pg. 72
New York Times Book Review 08/01/2010 pg. 23
New Yorker (The) 08/30/2010 pg. 81
Foreword 06/16/2010
BookPage 07/01/2010