Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman

 

The Shaw family is a large farming family.  There are seven children.  The father is having a hard time farming and over the years he sells off more and more of the land.  There are two huge family events that marks them all.  Their mother dies after years of deep depression and remoteness from the children.  Then one of the girls becomes pregnant and gets married at fifteen.

Over the years the children disperse to live their lives.  There are marriages and divorces, children, addictions.  Growing up, each child except the one who got pregnant early, had a sibling they were closest to.  They continued this closeness as adults and after the father died, several of the children moved back to the farm and lived together.  

I listened to this novel.  The narrator was perfect, outlining the various events in the childrens' lives as they grew to adults and parents themselves.  The family secrets slowly emerge and reconciliation is found as the childrens' adult lives unfold.  This book is recommended for readers of women's literature.