num_pages: 395
description: On their farm in Denby Iowa Rosanna and Walter Langdon abide by time-honored values that they pass on to their five wildly different yet equally remarkable children: Frank the brilliant stubborn first-born; Joe whose love of animals makes him the natural heir to his family's land; Lillian an angelic child who enters a fairy-tale marriage with a man only she will fully know; Henry the bookworm who's not afraid to be different; and Claire who earns the highest place in her father's heart. Moving from post-World War I America through the early 1950s Some Luck gives us an intimate look at this family's triumphs and tragedies zooming in on the realities of farm life while casting-as the children grow up and scatter to New York California and everywhere in between-a panoramic eye on the monumental changes that marked the first half of the twentieth century. Rich with humor and wisdom twists and surprises Some Luck takes us through deeply emotional cycles of births and deaths passions and betrayals displaying Smiley's dazzling virtuosity compassion and understanding of human nature and the nature of history never discounting the role of fate and chance. This potent conjuring of many lives across generations is a stunning tour de force.
language: English
title: Some Luck
publisher: Knopf