Tattered Cover's New VIB (Very Impressive Book)

They were born on the same day, in the same small New Hampshire hospital, into families that could hardly have been less alike.

Ruth Plank is an artist and a romantic with a rich, passionate, imaginative life. The last of five girls born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, she yearns to soar beyond the confines of the land that has been her family's birthright for generations.

Dana Dickerson is a scientist and realist whose faith is firmly planted in the natural world. Raised by a pair of capricious drifters who waste their lives on failed dreams, she longs for stability and rootedness.

Different in nearly every way, Ruth and Dana share a need to make sense of who they are and to find their places in a world in which neither has ever truly felt she belonged. They also share a love for Dana's wild and beautiful older brother, Ray, who will leave an indelible mark on both their hearts.

Told in the alternating voices of Ruth and Dana, The Good Daughters follows these "birthday sisters" as they make their way from the 1950s to the present. Master storyteller Joyce Maynard chronicles the unlikely ways the two women's lives parallel and intersect—from childhood and adolescence to first loves, first sex, marriage, and parenthood; from the deaths of parents to divorce, the loss of home, and the loss of a beloved partner—until past secrets and forgotten memories unexpectedly come to light, forcing them to reevaluate themselves and each other.

Moving from rural New Hampshire to a remote island in British Columbia to the '70s Boston art-school scene, The Good Daughters is an unforgettable story about the ties of home and family, the devastating force of love, the healing power of forgiveness, and the desire to know who we are.

From his own farm, Joe writes:

Joyce Maynard returns with another amazingly well-written and hard-to-put-down novel. The Good Daughters follows the lives of two women, born on the same day, in the same hospital, to two completely different families. Their lives couldn't be more different, but the one thing they have in common is a feeling of never quite fitting in. At times comedic, at times tragic, at times horrifying, this novel is a fascinating study of what it means to be family. I read this book in nearly one session, sitting up far past my bedtime because I had to finish it. Once I did, I couldn't wait to talk about it with a friend who'd also read it. This is not a book to simply read and enjoy, it's one that is going to stick with you.

Jackie loves it too, saying:

I'll tell you flat out that I enjoyed this book more than her last book, Labor Day, a book I liked quite a bit. It was easier for me to relate to the two main characters--maybe because they were women, maybe because they were farmers at points in their lives, maybe because they were searching for a place to belong and someone to be cherished by who would love them for themselves. I definitely became attached to them and enjoyed watching their lives unfold (though they both face difficult times that moved me greatly) over the 50ish years the book ranges over. I figured out the "big secret" in the book pretty quickly (I felt that Maynard was a bit heavy handed with the foreshadowing, actually, but nobody's perfect). Even so, I knew WHAT it was, but I kept reading because I really wanted to know WHY it was. The answer was not as complex as I had hoped for, but the ending of the book was better than I expected, so I'm satisfied. I too lost sleep to this book, but I don't begrudge it at all.