Oprah loved this and chose it for her book club. Entertainment Weekly gave this an A+, saying, "Stunning prose and unforgettable characters... an enthralling tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying ways our lives can spin out of control." From the publisher: "Pen /Hemingway Award-winning novelist Jane Hamilton follows up her first success, The Book Of Ruth, with this spectacularly haunting drama about a rural American family and a disastrous event that forever changes their lives."

Jane Hamilton is a twice selected author for Oprah's Book Club, and a PEN/Hemingway Award winner. Her debut novel follows Ruth Grey, a young woman in a small farm town in Illinois, who finds what pleasures and grace notes she can, having lost her father to World War II, and her mother in favor of her math-prodigy brother. A review says, "The book ends with the prospect of redemption, thank goodness." Recommended for fans of Jane Smiley, Alice Hoffman, and Anne Tyler.