All the Forgivenesses

This magnificent debut novel, which is set in Appalachia and the Midwest at the start of the 20th century, intimately depicts the struggles and hard-won victories of a strong agricultural family led by an outstanding heroine.

Fifteen-year-old Albertina "Bertie" Winslow has learned a lot from her mother, Polly, growing up on a hardscrabble farm in rural Kentucky. She is skilled at butchering pigs, making pie crusts, lancing boils, and completing all household chores. What she doesn't know, but must quickly come to terms with, is how to raise her kids like a mother ought to.

Bertie takes on parental duties for her four younger siblings and their dissolute, untrustworthy father when Polly passes away from a protracted illness. Still, the task seems too big. Particularly Dacia, age nine, is ungrateful and unyielding, implying that their mother has secrets. At last, Bertie takes the only action possible to ensure the family's survival: she separates the boys from their parents and sends them to live with their elder brothers, leaving the girls alone.

Ever practical, Bertie marries young, is appreciative of having a husband who is ready to look after her sisters, and eventually relocates to Kansas' oil fields. However, marriage by itself is unable to ease her sadness and guilt over an earlier tragedy or get her ready for the heartaches that lie ahead. She can only become joyful and learn to give and receive unconditional love by facing painful realities.

"Readers who enjoyed Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone and Jane Hamilton's Book of Ruth will appreciate this heartfelt story of profound hardship told in Bertie's unique voice."

— Journal of Libraries