Publisher Description
"Bursting with wise observations." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Engagements and Maine "Gleams like a jewel." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer "Stunning. . . Unique and unforgettable." -- Glamour Hailed as one of the best books of 2014 by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Elise Juska's The Blessings is a moving novel about a tight-knit Irish Catholic clan over the course of twenty years. The Blessings rally around one another in times of celebration and those of sorrow, coming together for departures and arrivals, while its members harbor private struggles and moments of personal joy. College student Abby ponders homesickness in her first semester away from her Philadelphia home, while her cousin Stephen commits a petty act of violence that takes a surprising turn, and their aunt Lauren faces a crisis in her storybook marriage she could never have foreseen. Through the lens of one unforgettable family, this beautifully moving novel explores how our families define us and how we shape them in return.
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“Several generations of the Blessings, a Philadelphia-based,
Irish American family, come beautifully to life in a deceptively simple
tale that examines the foibles, disappointments, and passions that tie
family members together…The Blessings rally round each other—whether that attention is wanted
or not—and the reader leaves feeling lucky to have spent some time in
their presence.”
—
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
About Elise Juska
Elise Juska is a writer of novels,
nonfiction, and short fiction that has appeared in numerous publications
including Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, Harvard Review, American
Literary Review, Salmagundi, Black Warrior Review, The Seattle Review, Colorado
Review, The Carolina Quarterly and The Hudson Review. Her story
"The Way I Saw The World Then" was published in The Missouri
Review and cited as distinguished by The Best American Stories.
Elise
earned her Master’s in Fiction Writing at the University of New Hampshire,
where she received the Tom Williams Memorial for fiction writing and the
Charait Award for best short story. She has since taught fiction writing at The
New School in NYC, in the MFA program at the University of New Hampshire, and
at various summer writing conferences.
Elise
now spends summers writing on an island in Maine and the rest of the year
teaching in Philadelphia, where she directs the undergraduate Creative Writing
Program at the University of the Arts.
About Thérèse Plummer
Thérèse Plummer is an actor, award-winning voice-over artist, and counselor. She has won eighteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She has appeared in a variety of television and film roles. As a counselor for adolescents, she spent five years using drama therapy techniques in individual and group settings.