Willem's Field

Description

From the bestselling author of Mother of Pearl comes a story of a unique piece of land and the damaged old man and restless young woman for whom it becomes a place of solace. Willem Fremont is returning to his family lands after spending decades in Colorado. For Willem, life is a constant battle against a nervous affliction that can lead to embarrassing public scenes with waitresses, bar tenders and public officials. He dates the problem from the night his house and surrounding land dramatically fell out from under him into a sinkhole. He escaped with his life, but fled the land that his family had held for generations. Now the land is held by the till family - presided over by the contrary, embittered matriarch Eileen. Eileen's two sons are the bane of her life - slothful, overweight, secretive Sonny, who lives with her in the family home; and troubled Bruno, whose injury in Vietnam has affected his marriage to the restless Leah and his work on the farm. Melinda Haynes brings these disparate characters together in a tightly woven tale of failed hopes and unexpected possibilities, set against the deeply felt tensions and intrigues of small-town rural life.

Melinda Haynes is a lifelong Southerner, who lives with her husband in Alabama. She is the bestselling author of Mother of Pearl, an Oprah's Book Club selection, which we published in Flamingo in 2000, and Chalktown, which we published in 2001.