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    The History of Great Things: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The History of Great Things: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The History of Great Things: A Novel
    Ebook293 pages4 hours

    The History of Great Things: A Novel

    By Elizabeth Crane

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A witty and irresistible story of a mother and daughter regarding each other through the looking glass of time, grief, and forgiveness.

    In two beautifully counterpoised narratives, two women—mother and daughter—try to make sense of their own lives by revisiting what they know about each other. The History of Great Things tells the entwined stories of Lois, a daughter of the Depression Midwest who came to New York to transform herself into an opera star, and her daughter, Elizabeth, an aspiring writer who came of age in the 1970s and ’80s in the forbidding shadow of her often-absent, always larger-than-life mother. In a tour de force of storytelling and human empathy, Elizabeth chronicles the events of her mother’s life, and in turn Lois recounts her daughter’s story—pulling back the curtain on lifelong secrets, challenging and interrupting each other, defending their own behavior, brandishing or swallowing their pride, and, ultimately, coming to understand each other in a way that feels both extraordinary and universal.

    The History of Great Things is a novel about a mother and daughter who are intimately connected and not connected enough; it will make readers laugh and cry and wonder how we become the adults we always knew we should—even if we’re not always adults our parents understand.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 5, 2016
    ISBN9780062412683
    Unavailable
    The History of Great Things: A Novel
    Author

    Elizabeth Crane

    Elizabeth Crane is the author of the novel We Only Know So Much and three collections of short stories. Her stories have been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts. She is a recipient of the Chicago Public Library 21st Century Award, and her work has been adapted for the stage by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. A feature film adaptation of We Only Know So Much will be released in 2016.

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    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      3.5 Have never read anything like this before. A mother and daughter try to make sense of their lives, together and apart by telling stories about the other. Some are made up, things to explain incidents that may or may not have happened. I kept picturing my own daughters, what I would say if I told a story about some happenings in their lives, or what they would say about mine. Anyway, some of the made up stories are amusing, some sad, but all things that play out in people's lives at different times, on different days. Of course, some truisms also emerge as does understanding, sympathy and forgiveness. A quasi memoir I think, since the author is the Betsy in the story and her mother, Lois. Quite good and original.ARC from publisher.