Feather Crowns, Bobbie Ann Mason
Feather Crowns, Bobbie Ann Mason
List: $36.99 | Sale: $25.90
Club: $18.49

Feather Crowns
A Novel

Author: Bobbie Ann Mason

Narrator: Kate Udall

Unabridged: 19 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 09/01/2020


Synopsis

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
From prize-winning author Bobbie Ann Mason, a brilliantly wrought novel about the first woman to give birth to quintuplets in early 1900s America. Set in the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900—a time when many Americans were looking for signs foretelling the end of the world—Feather Crowns is the story of a young woman who unintentionally creates a national sensation. A farm wife living near the small town of Hopewell, Kentucky, Christianna Wheeler gives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North America. Christie is suddenly thrown into a swirling storm of public attention. Hundreds of strangers descend on her home, all wanting to see and touch the ""miracle babies."" The fate of the babies and the bizarre events that follow their births propel Christie and her husband far from home, on a journey that exposes them to the turbulent pageant of life at the beginning of the modern era. Richly detailed and poignant, Feather Crowns focuses on one woman but opens out ultimately into the chronicle of a time and a people. Written in Bobbie Ann Mason's taut yet lyrical prose, the novel ranges from a peaceful farming community to a fire-and-brimstone revival camp, from traveling shows to the the nation's capital. Moving through the center of it all is Christie, a charming, headstrong, loving woman who struggles heroically to come to terms with the extraordinary events of her long life. Feather Crowns is an American parable of profound resonance. Spellbindingly readable, it is a novel of classic stature that confirmed Bobbie Ann Mason as one of America's most important writers.

About Bobbie Ann Mason

Bobbie Ann Mason is the author of a number of works of fiction, including The Girl in the Blue Beret, In Country, An Atomic Romance, and Nancy Culpepper. The groundbreaking Shiloh and Other Stories won the PEN Hemingway Award and was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Book Award, and the PEN Faulkner Award. Her memoir, Clear Springs, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won two Southern Book Awards and numerous other prizes, including the O. Henry and the Pushcart. Former writer-in-residence at the University of Kentucky, she lives in Kentucky.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sandra on March 20, 2008

I enjoyed this book. It reminds me of the superstitions my grandmothers forewarned. Especially the ones related to me when I was pregnant. They told me all kinds of things I shouldn't do so I wouldn't "mark" my baby.(I must have done something right; my boys are all wonderful and beautiful) Since I......more

Goodreads review by Toni on May 01, 2017

One of my very most favorite books of all time. If you like historical fiction, you'll like this.......more

Goodreads review by Lori on March 26, 2010

She is one of my favorite authors, especially in the short story form. Now that I live in SW Virginia I can actually relate more to her stories. That said, for me this story was too sad. I had hard time reading it as I felt it was a little too raw. I don't know how she comes up with her ideas! This......more

Goodreads review by Adam on January 22, 2022

Fascinating historical novel about a family in 1900 who happened to live about a half mile from the house where I grew up. The story was interesting and I loved all the small details of life over a hundred years ago. It’s a long, slow book, but kept me entertained throughout.......more