When the World Was Young, Elizabeth Gaffney
When the World Was Young, Elizabeth Gaffney
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When the World Was Young

Author: Elizabeth Gaffney

Narrator: Caitlin Davies

Unabridged: 4 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/05/2014

Synopsis

Wally Baker is no ordinary girl. Living in her grandparents' Brooklyn Heights brownstone, she doesn't like dresses, needlepoint, or manners. Her love of Wonder Woman comics and ants makes her feel like a misfit—especially in the shadow of her dazzling but unstable mother, Stella.

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Gaffney's irresistible novel captures postwar Brooklyn through Wally's eyes, opening on V-J day, as she grows up with the rest of America. Reeling from her own unexpected wartime tragedy and navigating an increasingly fraught landscape, Wally is forced to confront painful truths about the world—its sorrows, its prejudices, its conflicts, its limitations. But Wally also finds hope and strength in the unlikeliest places.

With an unforgettable cast of characters, Elizabeth Gaffney crafts an immersive, beautifully realized novel about the truths that divide and the love that keeps us together.

About Elizabeth Gaffney

Elizabeth Gaffney is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Metropolis. Her stories have appeared in such literary magazines as the Virginia Quarterly Review and the North American Review, and she has been a resident artist at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Blue Mountain Center. A former staff editor at the Paris Review, Elizabeth teaches fiction at the New School and serves as the editor-at-large of the literary magazine A Public Space. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughters.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M is taking a break.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. ****************************************************************************** I love reading a book where a character owns my heart right from the very beginning. This is how I felt about Wally Baker, as she......more

Goodreads review by Doreen

What this book has: an interesting premise, a setting ripe for exploration, a diverse cast of characters and viewpoints. What this book doesn't have: narrative tension, any sense of suspense or exploration of characters' motives. It's essentially a catalog of events in the life of one family from the......more

Goodreads review by Christine

I've just finished an advance copy of Gaffney's When the World was Young and find myself marveling at Gaffney's ability to weave intricate details into huge and historical events. Gaffney employs weighty subjects -- including race, the atom bomb, war, suicide, disillusionment, love -- into When the......more

Goodreads review by Terri

Review also found at [URL not allowed] I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher Random House via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The expected publication date is August 5, 2014. This is not going to be a long review because I feel this is one of th......more

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