num_pages: 180
description: The people of Mount Salus, Mississippi always felt good about Judge McKelva. He was a quiet, solid reassuring figure, just as a judge should be. Then, ten years after his first wife's death, he marries the frivolous young Wanda Fay. No-one can understand his action, not least his beloved daughter, Laurel, who finds it hard to accept the new bride. It is only some years later, when circumstance brings her back to her childhood home, that Laurel stirs old memories and comes to understand the peculiarities of her upbringing, and the true relationship between her parents and herself. The Optimist's Daughter is a reflective, poignant novel of independence and love, for which Eudora Welty, one of America's gretest contemporary Southern writers, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
language: English
title: The Optimist's Daughter
titlecomplete: The Optimist's Daughter
characters: Tish Bullock, Fay Chisom McKelva, Laurel McKelva Hand, Miss Tennyson Bullock, Miss Adele Courtland, Judge Clint McKelva
genres: Womens, 20th Century, Southern, Literature, Novels, Southern Gothic, Classics, Fiction, Literary Fiction, American
ratings_count: 13442
places: New Orleans, Louisiana, The United States of America, Mississippi, Mount Salus, Mississippi
awards: awardedAt: 94723200000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 94723200000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Fiction
publisher: Virago Modern Classics