Abandoned by a succession of relatives, orphaned sisters Ruthie and Lucille find
themselves in the care of their eccentric aunt Sylvie in their rural home town
in Idaho. Ruthie narrates the sisters' story as Lucille moves out into the world
and Ruth falls further back into her own family's dark past. Against the stunni
ng backdrop of a bleak wintery landscape in a small desolate town, Marilynne Rob
inson's first novel is a powerful portrayal of loss, loneliness and the struggle
towards adulthood.
In an interview in the Guardian in 2009 after winning the
Orange Prize Marilynne Robinson said "It seems to me that the small drama of co
nversation and thought and reflection, that is so much more individual, so much
less cliched than - I mean when people set out on an adventure, I think 90 times
out of 100, they've read about it in a brochure. That's not the part of life th
at interests me."
