The Good Daughters
Joyce Maynard
Morrow, Aug 24 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780061994319
On July 4, 1950 in New Hampshire, Ruth Plank and Dana Dickerson are born at the same hospital. Ruth is the youngest of five sisters; whereas her father is a caring farmer who loves his girls including his “Hurricane baby”; her mother is distant. Dana wants stability as her parents drag her and her older brother Ray with them as they follow capricious dreams into one disaster after another. The families remain friends as once a year the Plank brood visits the wandering Dickerson clan regardless of where the latter resides for the moment. Artistic Ruth the romantic reunites with Ray in a haze of sex and drugs at Woodstock. Dana dreams of love with a woman as she becomes an agricultural student where she meets assistant Professor Clarice. As each woman settles into their career of an artist and a scientist, they dream of finding a loving mate and raising children, but also need to know the family link between their parents.
This is an intriguing drama that sweeps through the decades as told by the rotating perspectives of the “Birth” sisters. The fully developed cast enhances the appealing story line that owned by Ruth and Dana as fans will be swept up in their tales and like them with a need to know what connects two families. Joyce Maynard provides a brilliant baby boomer historical saga.
Harriet Klausner
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