A family disaster forces a married couple, who were activists in the Civil Rights movement, to become guardians of two children raised by segregationist parents

Civil Wars (Contemporary American Fiction)

Literature & Fiction

BROWN, Rosellen

United States

Penguin??Books

The twelve-year-long, happy marriage of Laura and Dan is severely tested when Laura becomes paralyzed as a result of a boating accident for which Dan is responsible

Tender Mercies (Contemporary American Fiction)

Half a heart

An unforgettable novel about race and motherhood from the bestselling author of Before and After.

Half a Heart

Picador

The New York Times Bestseller 
A New York Times Notable Book
Carolyn and Ben Reiser moved to Hyland, New Hampshire with their two children for the comforts of rural life. But when the local police chief comes looking for their seventeen-year-old son Jacob to question him about the brutal murder of his girlfriend, the Reisers' lives begin to unravel. 
A compelling story that will capture you in the opening scene and hold you through its shocking conclusion, Before and After is a stunning novel that pits parent against parent, brother against sister, family against community, blood loyalty against law-as "deep questions of loyalty, honesty, and love are forced to the surface in this psychologically riveting tale." (Library Journal)

Before and After: A Novel

Laura and Dan Courser are less than perfect, but deeply passionate couple with young children and lots of plans. Until Dan, displaying the boyish bravado that made Laura fall in love with him, takes the tiller of a boat he can't handle and causes the accident that shatters their lives. Suddenly there are no more ordinary days or nights. And, in a story filled with astonishing revelations, we witness two people wrestling with a marriage in which all the rules are changed, confronting the guilt and anger, devotion and desire that don't merely survive. . . but can help heal the wounded heart.

Tender Mercies

Ballantine Books

The Autobiography of My Mother

Civil liberties lawyer Gerda Stein must contend with a whole new set of problems when her daughter, Renata, reenters her life after an eight-year absence and brings with her her child. Reprint. NYT.

The dreams, hopes, and loneliness of the people who live on a Brooklyn street are depicted in this selection of stories

Street Games

Short Stories & Anthologies

Tragedy thrusts married Lefties Jessie and Teddy Carll into the role of parents when Teddy's rich, bigoted sister and her husband are killed in a car accident and his sister's children move into their home. Reprint. NYT. LJ.

Civil Wars

Sphere Books Limited

Beautifully written, compassionate and wise, Rosellen Brown’s novel is the extraordinary story of a family’s struggle to survive the throes of a tragedy. Before and After centers on Carolyn and Ben Reiser and their two children, Judith and Jacob, who live comfortably in a small New England town. When the chief of police comes looking for seventeen-year-old Jacob to question him about the bludgeoning to death of his girlfriend, the Reisers’ lives are changed forever. Before and After is the compelling drama of the search for Jacob, his capture, and the chain of events set in motion by a brutal crime of passion. It is a story that pits parent against parent, brother against sister, family against community, blood loyalty against the law. With a flawless ear for dialogue and profound understanding of character and motive, Rosellen Brown has written a heart-wrenching novel that questions the very nature of violence in our society and our ability to ever really know our children.

Before and After

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

Including the entire text of the popular poem Cora Fry, a powerful poetic exploration of family, loyalty, and love portrays Cora as she confronts the losses that accompany middle age and the outside forces threatening her small town.

Cora Fry's Pillow Book

Poetry

Farrar. Straus & Giroux

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Books by BROWN, Rosellen