Gail Anderson-Dargatz's evocative novel of one woman's simple but passionately lived life reminds of us of the pleasure to be found in human contact and simple, natural things.
Raised by her silent but companionable father and a mother who kept bees, headstrong Augusta marries shy, deferential Karl, twelve years her senior, and goes to live with him on his father's remote farm. Terrified that she will literally die from loneliness and isolation,...

Wang Lang, a simple peasant farmer takes as a wife a battered slave girl who becomes a indomitable, loyal woman. Working the land together they prosper and increase their holdings, yet Wang eventually betrays his family and neglects the earth he had worshipped.

Lucy Fooshee is a fish out of water. Living in a small Midwestern town where behavior is prescribed and expectations limited, this local beauty queen had pinned her hopes on marriage, only to be disappointed. Pretty Is As Pretty Does is an understated black comedy with an unlikely heroine. Bright, funny, mean, egocentric, and self-deceiving Lucy understands that beneath her town's culture of politeness there is a willingness to do whatever is necessary

...

"In her first life, Ida Russell had been a painter. Five years ago, she had confidently walked the halls of Boston's most renowned Museum School, enrolling in art courses that were once deemed "unthinkable" for women, and showing a budding talent for watercolors. But no more. Ida Russell is now Ida Pease, resident of a seaside farm on Vineyard Haven, and wife to Ezra, a once-charming man who has become an inattentive and unreliable husband. Ezra runs...