Description:
Mrs. Emerson, widowed with seven adult children, lives alone in her crumbling Victorian mansion outside Baltimore with only a collection of antique clocks to keep her company. Elizabeth Abbott--twenty-three years old, aimless, bohemian, and beautiful--leads a vagabond lifestyle until she happens upon Mrs. Emerson's home and convinces the older woman to hire her as a handyman.
When three of the strange, idiosyncratic Emerson children return to their childhood home for a visit, they are irresistibly drawn to Elizabeth. With wondrous observations and bittersweet humor, Tyler shows how this unsuspecting young woman becomes the North Star that helps a stumbling, dysfunctional family find its footing.
Brief description:
Anne Tyler is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-five novels. Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. Her novel A Spool of Blue Thread was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2015. The Accidental Tourist was the basis for a major motion picture. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.