The wait is over! Oprah has picked her book-club selection for November: A. Manette Ansay's "Vinegar Hill." You can buy "Vinegar Hill" for 50% off at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380730138/entertainmentsit (paperback) Vinegar Hill is an appropriate address for the characters who populate A. Manette Ansay's novel of the same name. After all, when Ellen Grier and her family return to the rural hamlet of Holly's Field, Wisconsin, it's not exactly a happy homecoming. Her husband, James, has been laid off from his job in Illinois. And for the moment, the family has moved in with Ellen's in-laws, Fritz and Mary-Margaret, an unhappy pair who dislike their daughter-in-law almost as much as they despise each other: "The first time Ellen sat at this table she was twenty years old, bright-cheeked after a spring afternoon spent walking along the lakefront with James, planning their upcoming wedding. It was 1959 and she was eager to make a good impression. She didn't know then that Mary-Margaret disliked her, that she was considered *Jimmy's mistake*." Thirteen years later, in 1972, Ellen is back at the table with no escape in sight. Both she and her husband do find work. Yet James seems to settle a tad too easily into his old life, and shows no interest in finding a place of their own. Even worse, his job takes him away from home for weeks at a time, leaving Ellen to cope with her abusive in-laws. In "Vinegar Hill" Ansay paints a searing portrait of the Midwest's dark side, of a rural culture infected with despair and ruled over by an unforgiving God. Yet she does hold out a grain of hope, too. Just as Ellen seems permanently entangled in familial desperation, she makes a surprising discovery about James's long-dead grandmother--a woman whose rebellious spirit inspires Ellen to rescue herself and her loved ones from the impinging darkness. This late-breaking redemption doesn't cancel out the preceding unhappiness: "Vinegar Hill" remains a tough, uncompromising tale, one that requires some fortitude to read. But those with the heart for it will be rewarded with fine, spare prose and a hopeful ending. --Alix Wilber ****** Previous 1999 Oprah's Book Club Picks October "River, Cross My Heart" by Breena Clarke http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316899992/entertainmentsit "River, Cross My Heart" is set in the African American community of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., circa 1925. Breena Clarke's debut is a superb piece of storytelling--and a powerful meditation on tragedy and redemption. September "Tara Road" by Maeve Binchy http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385335121/entertainmentsit Maeve Binchy's "Tara Road" is a deeply satisfying big-canvas novel that revolves around two newlyweds who buy a Victorian fixer-upper on a shabby Dublin street--and are surprised to see how their new digs transform the entire neighborhood. June "Mother of Pearl" by Melinda Haynes http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786866276/entertainmentsit "Mother of Pearl," the moving debut novel by Melinda Haynes, is a deep-focus portrait of a tiny Mississippi town, circa 1956. In musical, memorable prose, Haynes animates an entire community--and shares more than a few of its secrets with the reader. May "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316569321/entertainmentsit "White Oleander" is the stunning debut novel by Janet Fitch about a teenage girl's search for her identity. With her headstrong mother serving a life sentence in prison, Astrid Magnussen must learn to survive on her own, and this story brilliantly traces her journey from the streets through a series of foster homes and ultimately to a greater understanding of life. April "The Pilot's Wife" by Anita Shreve http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316601950/entertainmentsit When a plane piloted by her husband crashes off the coast of Ireland, Kathryn Lyons's life goes into a tailspin. Her grief turns to shock, however, when she begins hunting for clues about the cause of the disaster and discovers that her husband was not the man she knew, in Anita Shreve's gripping novel "The Pilot's Wife." March "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink, translated by Carol Brown Janeway http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375707972/entertainmentsit Bernhard Schlink's "The Reader" is a powerful novel of shared guilt and the redemptive power of love, set in postwar Germany. Beautifully rendered, the story revolves around a teenage boy's affair with an older woman, and chronicles the devastating impact of her dark secret. February "Jewel" by Bret Lott http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671038184/entertainmentsit "This baby you be carrying be yo' hardship, be yo' test in this world." Pregnant with her sixth and last child, Jewel Hilburn discounts a childhood friend's dire prophecy. But when Brenda Kay is born with Down syndrome, the Hilburn family discovers that this special child is both a challenge and a joy, in Bret Lott's "Jewel," an extraordinary novel of family love. January "Where the Heart Is" by Billie Letts http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446672211/entertainmentsit Seventeen years old, seven months pregnant, 37 pounds overweight--Novalee Nation, the protagonist of Billie Letts's novel "Where the Heart Is," has never had much luck with the number seven. But when her boyfriend abandons her in the parking lot of an Oklahoma Wal-Mart, Novalee's luck begins to change as she discovers that friends, family, and a future are always where the heart is. ****** Recently Featured on Oprah(R) "Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life" by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446524565/entertainmentsit "In the Royal Manner: Expert Advice on Etiquette and Entertaining from the Former Butler to Diana, Princess of Wales" by Paul Burrell http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/044652641X/entertainmentsit "The Jock Doc's Body Repair Kit: The New Sports Medicine for Recovery and Increased Performance" by Andrew Feldman http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312199058/entertainmentsit ****** Looking for power tools? From screwdrivers to scroll saws, our brand-new Home Improvement Store offers the planet's best selection of tools and more. Home Improvement ****** For past book-club selections and other books and videos recently featured on Oprah(R), visit Featured in the Media ******
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