A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl
Jean Thompson
eBook
(Simon & Schuster, Oct. 23, 2018)
From National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestselling author of The Year We Left Home comes a âpowerful, beautifully craftedâ (People) family saga about three generations of women who struggle to find freedom and happiness in their small Midwestern college town.A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl is a poignant novel about three generations of the Wise familyâEvelyn, Laura, and Graceâas they hunt for contentment amid chaos of their own making. We see these women and their trials, small and large: social slights and heartbreaks; marital disappointments and infidelities; familial dysfunction; mortality. Spanning from World War II to the present, Thompson reveals a matrilineal love story that is so perfectly grounded in our timeâa story of three women regressing, stalling, and yes, evolving, over decades. One of the burning questions she asks is: by serving her family, is a woman destined to repeat the mistakes of previous generations, or can she transcend the expectations of a place, and a time? Can she truly be free? Evelyn, Laura, and Grace are the glue that binds their family together. Tethered to their small Midwestern townâby choice or chanceâJean Thompson seamlessly weaves together the stories of the Wise women with humanity and elegance, through their heartbreaks, setbacks, triumphs, and tragedies. âThompsonâs new novel draws the reader in with character and plotâŚbut what ultimately holds the reader enthralled isâŚher ability to capture the nuance of individual moments, thoughts, and reactions. No one writing today is better at thisâŚ[an] extraordinary novelâ (Washington Independent Review of Books).