Mary Coin
By: by Marisa Silver
Edition: Large print edition.
Series: Thorndike Press large print core; Thorndike Press large print core series
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 447
ISBN-13: 9781410460288
Subjects: Depressions; Photojournalism; Fiction; Rural poor; Large type books; History; Women photographers; Women migrant labor
Description: In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of a road in Central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting the migrant laborers who have taken to America's farms in search of work. Little personal information is exchanged, and neither woman has any way of knowing that they have produced what will become the most iconic image of the Great Depression. Three vibrant characters anchor the narrative of Mary Coin. Mary, the migrant mother herself, who emerges as a woman with deep reserves of courage and nerve, with private passions and carefully-guarded secrets. Vera Dare, the photographer wrestling with creative ambition who makes the choice to leave her children in order to pursue her work. And Walker Dodge, a present-day professor of cultural history, who discovers a family mystery embedded in the picture. In luminous, exquisitely rendered prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief moment in history, and reminds us that although a great photograph can capture the essence of a moment, it only scratches the surface of a life.