Overview

A year in the life of the members of the divided McKotch family, revealing their secrets and their conflicts The house by the sea held sepia-tinted family memories tight within its walls. Once a year it was dusted down, its windows flung open, the sound of laughter echoed throughout its rooms; this was the rhythm of family life. All that is about to change. When Gwen, the youngest child, is diagnosed with Turner's Syndrome, the family knows that her body will never grow to adulthood. Frank, her scientist father, is fascinated by the disease, while Paulette her mother is horrified. As they struggle to cope with the ramifications of Gwen's illness, her parents see the cracks within their marriage widen irreparably. Equally affected are their sons; one a successful lawyer in denial about who he is, the other whose search for himself and his need for his parents’ approval has only resulted in a series of dead ends. Jennifer Haigh paints a brilliant portrait of a family idyll and its seemingly inevitable and painful disintegration in this stunning and thought-provoking novel.

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9780007225071

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Reviews

Praise for The Condition 'With humour, grace and an abiding compassion that is becoming her signature, Jennifer Haigh illuminates the dark tangle of desire and deed that is the family, that crucible we so often yearn to flee yet keep coming back to again and again. The Condition is unsentimental, compelling and moving, and I urge you to read it!' Andre Dubus III NYT bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog 'The ailment at the centre of this remarkable novel is the human condition itself. Jennifer Haigh has written a sprawling, emotionally gripping account of one family's troubled history, enlivened by her formidable intelligence and deep insight into her character's hearts and minds.' Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of Little Children 'Haigh creates a realistic family dynamic from richly drawn characters, capturing the family members' various expectations of assumptions about one another. Compelling; highly recommended for all fiction collections.' Library Journal Praise for Baker Towers 'The living, breathing organism that is Ms. Haigh's captivating book![is an] effortlessly haunting story!with satisfyingly real and vivid individuals!beyond being an expert natural storyteller with an acute sense of her characters' humanity,[she] sustains a clear sense of Bakerton's vitality, or lack thereof !this book has the heart to end, credibly and unsentimentally, on a note of rebirth. And Bakerton is utterly, entrancingly alive on the page even as it is supposed to be fading away.' Janet Maslin,New York Times A lovingly told, detailed novel of postwar America!compassionate and powerful!it is through the accretion of tiny, telling details, of finely observed moments, that a universe is created and a spell cast!This is a book of great heart, a song of praise for a too-little-praised part of America-for the working families whose toils and constancy have done so much to make the country great.' Chicago Tribune 'Haigh's got a keen way of getting inside the hopes and discomforts of her characters. She moves lightly between snippets of anecdote and insight, creating her world sparingly, convincingly, matter-of-factly.' San Francisco Chronicle Haigh has constructed a hypnotic portrait of a coal-country mining town that spans a quarter century and captures wistfully the demise of the culture![Haigh] is capable of creating flesh and blood characters are authentic and idiosyncratic!The novel is constructed around consciously small moments of ordinary domesticity!In page after page Haigh demonstrates her profound ability to illuminate the personal encounters and minor revelations that make up a life, while offering a crisp, insightful snapshot of a particular place and time. Boston Globe 'Jennifer Haigh gets a memorable grip on family and locale in her vivid novel Baker Towers!It's hard to escape!the characterizations and the texture Haigh conjures so effectively carry this largely superb novel. Haigh's tone is pitch-perfect, her grasp of psychology, masterly. The way Joyce Novak develops, overcoming the chill in her loins to connect with the warmth of her heart, is but one example of a command equal to those of Richard Russo and Anne Tyler, novelists who also examine the large issues that roil small towns. Baker Towers isn't perfect, but it sure is close.' Denver Post Praise for Mrs Kimble 'At turns beautiful, devastating and complex, Mrs. Kimble explores the interplay between deception and vulnerability, betraying Haigh's ambitious talent in the process. Chicago Tribune 'The talent evident in this novel is stunning. The question is not whether Haigh might turn out to be a good writer. Rather, we have the intriguing possibility that the next great American author is already in print.' Fort Worth Star-Telegram 'The measured prose and care for detail show a promising talent' Kirkus Reviews 'Like The Hours!Mrs Kimble tells the interlocking stories of three very different women!a clever premise, backed up by three remarkably well limned Mrs. Kimbles. Washington Post Book World Praise for Jennifer Haigh Her talent is stunning!The question is not whether Jennifer Haigh might turn out to be a good writer. Rather, we have the intriguing possibility that the great American author is already in print. Fort Worth Star-Telegram A novelist who can really tell a story!we're in the hands of a master, one who fully subscribes to what author Alice Mattison describes as the opportunity to give fiction a chance to mean something. Haigh writes from her soul. Milwaukee Journal Sentinal Haigh's writing is rich and mellifluous. The Times

PEN/Hemingway Award winner Haigh's third novel (Baker Towers, 2005, etc.) focuses on the now disconnected members of a once close-knit New England family.The summer of 1976 is the last Paulette and Frank McKotch and their three children will spend together as a family at her parents' Cape Cod cottage before the house is sold and Frank and Paulette are divorced. Cold but needy Paulette, who dropped out of Wellesley to marry, and warm but self-centered Frank, a scientist and professor at MIT, are sexually incompatible - he wants more and she wants less. Their already shaky marriage falls apart when their 13-year-old daughter Gwen is diagnosed with a chromosome deficiency that keeps her from developing physically in puberty; Frank wants to pursue medical solutions while Paulette wants to protect Gwen from pain. Cut ahead 20 years to the mid-'90s. Frank and Paulette have never remarried. Both are painfully lonely. Bill, their oldest son, has become a cardiologist in Manhattan. He is in a genuinely loving relationship with another man, but he keeps his sexuality a secret from his parents, and completely avoids Frank, who always favored him. Youngest son Scott, the family black sheep, has fallen into marriage with a woman whose coarseness is portrayed almost as a moral deficiency. At 30, teaching at a mediocre private school, he barely supports her and their two children. Although he lives in nearby Connecticut, he too rarely sees his parents or siblings. At 34, Gwen still has a child's body. She lives a lonely life working in a museum. On a vacation in the Caribbean, Gwen falls in love with her guide. Paulette, a conventional snob and overly protective mother, sends Scott to find Gwen, setting in motion a chain of reactions that ultimately force each of the McKotches to reexamine their relationships with each other and with themselves.After the lovely opening, filled with genuine insight and touching lyricism, Haigh overly orchestrates her characters' lives. (Kirkus Reviews)

Praise for The Condition 'With humour, grace and an abiding compassion that is becoming her signature, Jennifer Haigh illuminates the dark tangle of desire and deed that is the family, that crucible we so often yearn to flee yet keep coming back to again and again. The Condition is unsentimental, compelling and moving, and I urge you to read it!' Andre Dubus III NYT bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog 'The ailment at the centre of this remarkable novel is the human condition itself. Jennifer Haigh has written a sprawling, emotionally gripping account of one family's troubled history, enlivened by her formidable intelligence and deep insight into her character's hearts and minds.' Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of Little Children 'Haigh creates a realistic family dynamic from richly drawn characters, capturing the family members' various expectations of assumptions about one another. Compelling; highly recommended for all fiction collections.' Library Journal Praise for Baker Towers 'The living, breathing organism that is Ms. Haigh's captivating book![is an] effortlessly haunting story!with satisfyingly real and vivid individuals!beyond being an expert natural storyteller with an acute sense of her characters' humanity,[she] sustains a clear sense of Bakerton's vitality, or lack thereof !this book has the heart to end, credibly and unsentimentally, on a note of rebirth. And Bakerton is utterly, entrancingly alive on the page even as it is supposed to be fading away.' Janet Maslin,New York Times A lovingly told, detailed novel of postwar America!compassionate and powerful!it is through the accretion of tiny, telling details, of finely observed moments, that a universe is created and a spell cast!This is a book of great heart, a song of praise for a too-little-praised part of America-for the working families whose toils and constancy have done so much to make the country great.' Chicago Tribune 'Haigh's got a keen way of getting inside the hopes and discomforts of her characters. She moves lightly between snippets of anecdote and insight, creating her world sparingly, convincingly, matter-of-factly.' San Francisco Chronicle Haigh has constructed a hypnotic portrait of a coal-country mining town that spans a quarter century and captures wistfully the demise of the culture![Haigh] is capable of creating flesh and blood characters are authentic and idiosyncratic!The novel is constructed around consciously small moments of ordinary domesticity!In page after page Haigh demonstrates her profound ability to illuminate the personal encounters and minor revelations that make up a life, while offering a crisp, insightful snapshot of a particular place and time. Boston Globe 'Jennifer Haigh gets a memorable grip on family and locale in her vivid novel Baker Towers!It's hard to escape!the characterizations and the texture Haigh conjures so effectively carry this largely superb novel. Haigh's tone is pitch-perfect, her grasp of psychology, masterly. The way Joyce Novak develops, overcoming the chill in her loins to connect with the warmth of her heart, is but one example of a command equal to those of Richard Russo and Anne Tyler, novelists who also examine the large issues that roil small towns. Baker Towers isn't perfect, but it sure is close.' Denver Post Praise for Mrs Kimble 'At turns beautiful, devastating and complex, Mrs. Kimble explores the interplay between deception and vulnerability, betraying Haigh's ambitious talent in the process. Chicago Tribune 'The talent evident in this novel is stunning. The question is not whether Haigh might turn out to be a good writer. Rather, we have the intriguing possibility that the next great American author is already in print.' Fort Worth Star-Telegram 'The measured prose and care for detail show a promising talent' Kirkus Reviews 'Like The Hours!Mrs Kimble tells the interlocking stories of three very different women!a clever premise, backed up by three remarkably well limned Mrs. Kimbles. Washington Post Book World Praise for Jennifer Haigh Her talent is stunning...The question is not whether Jennifer Haigh might turn out to be a good writer. Rather, we have the intriguing possibility that the great American author is already in print. Fort Worth Star-Telegram A novelist who can really tell a story...we're in the hands of a master, one who fully subscribes to what author Alice Mattison describes as the opportunity to give fiction a chance to mean something. Haigh writes from her soul. Milwaukee Journal Sentinal Haigh's writing is rich and mellifluous. The Times

Author Information

Jennifer Haigh is the author of the New York Times bestseller Baker Towers, winnerof the 2006 PEN/L.L. Winship Award for outstanding book by a New England author;and Mrs. Kimble, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction and was a finalist for the Book Sense Book of the Year. Both novels were number one Book Sense picks. Her fiction has appeared in Granta, Ploughshares, Good Housekeeping, and elsewhere. She lives in the Boston area.

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