Mary Coin

Silver, Marisa

ISBN 10: 0399160701 / ISBN 13: 9780399160707

Published by Blue Rider Press, New York, NY, U.S.A., 2013

About this Item

First edition with complete number line beginning with "1". Clean bright and tight. No corner bumps, creases or tears. Minor bump to upper dust jacket corner near spine and corresponding bump to upper spine end. Mylar-protected. Not price clipped, remaindered or library withdrawn. Shipped padded in a box with tracking number provided on domestic shipping.

Seller Inventory # 004648

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mary Coin
• Publisher: Blue Rider Press, New York, NY, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399160701
• ISBN 13: 9780399160707
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction, first edition, first printing

About this title

Synopsis

*An NPR Best Book of 2013*
*A BBC Best Book of 2013*
 

In her first novel since The God of War, the critically acclaimed author Marisa Silver takes Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” photograph as inspiration for a breathtaking reinvention—a story of two women, one famous and one forgotten, and of the remarkable legacy of their chance encounter.

In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of a road in Central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting the migrant laborers who have taken to America’s farms in search of work. Little personal information is exchanged, and neither woman has any way of knowing that they have produced what will become the most iconic image of the Great Depression.

Three vibrant characters anchor the narrative of Mary Coin. Mary, the migrant mother herself, who emerges as a woman with deep reserves of courage and nerve, with private passions and carefully-guarded secrets. Vera Dare, the photographer wrestling with creative ambition who makes the choice to leave her children in order to pursue her work. And Walker Dodge, a present-day professor of cultural history, who discovers a family mystery embedded in the picture. In luminous, exquisitely rendered prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief moment in history, and reminds us that although a great photograph can capture the essence of a moment, it only scratches the surface of a life.

About the Author

Marisa Silver is the author of the novels The God of War (a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist) and No Direction Home; and two story collections, Alone With You and Babe in Paradise (a New York Times Notable Book and Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year). She lives in Los Angeles.