Today I am linking up to Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader where readers share the first sentence of the current book they are reading.
1662
The Turkey
"The fire is nearly out. In her hurry to flame it, she rushes through the daydark and bumps herself hard on the cradle. She keeps forgetting it's there, planed smooth as skin, still tight in the rockers, still smelling new-woody."
I love the uncommon descriptive words Cooney creates to set the scene of this 1662 day and home- "daydark," "new-woody." The reader can instantly sense that the character's daily routines are very physical, from keeping a fire going to caring for a baby and all the other household chores that we know await her. I am looking forward to reading this novel as it seems to be the perfect book to digest before the start of the holiday season.
** You can read my review of Cooney's previous novel, Lambrusco, here.
About Thanksgiving:
One family. One table. One meal. 350
years. This dramatic, highly inventive novel presents the story of one
family through many generations, as Thanksgiving dinner is prepared. The
narrative moves swiftly and richly through time and changes as we experience the
lives of the Morleys against the background of historical events. This is
history that comes fully alive, for we become part of the family ourselves,
sharing their fortunes and tragedies, knowing their truths from their lies,
watching their possessions handed down or lost forever. All along, in the same
house, in the same room, Morley women are getting dinner ready, one part at a
time, in a room that begins with a hearth of Colonial times and ends as a
present-day kitchen. Thanksgiving serves up history in a lively,
entertaining way that offers an original viewpoint of the everyday concerns of
one family across the generations.
** Thanksgiving is available on Sept. 15. Visit the author's website to order or learn more at www.ellencooney.com.
About the Author: Ellen Cooney was born in 1952 in Clinton, Massachusetts. She is the author of eight novels and stories published in The New Yorker and many literary journals. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, and taught creative writing for over twenty-five years, most recently in the writing program at MIT. She now lives in mid-coast Maine. Her next novel, The Mountaintop School For Dogs And Other Second Chances, will be published in the spring of 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Happy Reading,
Rebecca
