It is 1980s New York. Heady, excessive times. Alice Burns, a young book editor, is deep into a manuscript about the morass of family life. The observations resonates, perhaps because she has just watched her own family implode. As she reads she wonders: when did the sadness start? And could it be that unhappiness is a choice? Thus begins a great American epic which follows Alice as she navigates high school bullying, first love and sexism at an elite college, a spell in 1970's Ireland, and a tragedy that sends her stateside as the U.S. embraces a cowboy actor named Reagan. But it is also the tale of her endlessly complex parents and brothers; how their destinies are written by the lies they tell themselves and others.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.