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Housekeeping
For anyone whose grief feels more like weather than an event. Housekeeping is a quiet book about being the kid who never fit the town. 🌊
Who it's for
Ruth narrates a childhood built on loss, a grandfather lost in a train wreck, a mother who drove into the lake, a series of caretakers, and her dreamlike voice lets grieving readers feel their own sense of absence given form and beauty rather than diagnosed.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Marilynne Robinson's 1980 debut novel is narrated by Ruth Stone, who grows up with her younger sister Lucille in the fictional lakeside town of Fingerbone, Idaho. After their mother's death, the sisters are raised first by their grandmother, then by two elderly aunts, and finally by their mother's sister Sylvie, a former transient.
Where to find it
In print (Picador/FSG) and in libraries (Libby/Hoopla); audiobook available. Not public domain. The 1987 film adaptation is also available.
Before you start
Heads up: A mother's suicide, told briefly.
Age: Ages 14+
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds
