Sights Unseen (Virago Modern Classics) - Softcover

Kaye Gibbons

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860493386 ISBN 13: 9781860493386

Publisher: Virago Modern Classics, 1997

Synopsis

The bestselling author of Charms for the Easy Life reads "her best novel since Ellen Foster."

Kaye Gibbons' award-winning novels of Southern family life have won rave reviews coast to coast. Now, she tells the "story of family dislocation and crisis in restrained prose of unflinching clarity, with a honing eye for the small domestic details that conjure a time, place and emotional atmosphere." (Publishers Weekly)

To the people of Bend of the River Road, Maggie Barnes is "the Barnes woman with all the problems." To her family, she is the unpredictable wife, elusive mother, and adored daughter-in-law, and to her maid, Pearl, she is the mistress who must be cared for like a child.

Between the suicidal lows and delirious highs, young Hattie Barnes struggles to find a place in her mother's heart. She observes her mother's vain attempts at normalcy, and then watches as she is driven off to the hospital psychiatric ward. Only later will Hattie discover the deep-seated hopes and fears of the woman she loves unconditionally, and her inevitable connection to her family's past.

In heartfelt and potent prose, through Hattie's hushed voice, Sights Unseen tells the story of a troubled relationship and the courage it takes to see it through.

About this title

About the Author:

Kaye Gibbons is the author of Charms for the Easy Life (which she also read for Simon & Schuster Audio), A Cure for Dreams, A Virtuous Woman, and Ellen Foster. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

From AudioFile:

Regional fiction is a special challenge for the audiobook performer. Especially in the literature of the American South, accents vary from state to state, class to class, race to race. Kate Fleming does a beautiful job with the many voices of this sad and funny story of Hattie, whose mother is known to her Carolina community as "that Barnes woman with all the problems," problems that today would be called being bi-polar or manic depressive. Hattie's father is nearly overwhelmed by loving a wife who is beautiful but often outrageous, and even a danger to others and herself. The household is held together by loving and lovely black Pearl; the story is held together by Kaye Gibbons's wry and sensitive writing and by Fleming's skillful performance. B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago Modern Classics
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1860493386
• ISBN 13: 9781860493386
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 209