The Nightingales of Troy
Subtitle: stories of one family's century
By: Alice Fulton.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780393048872
Subjects: Women -- Fiction; Troy (N.Y.) -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Description: Set in Troy, New York, this linked collection follows a quirky and resilient family of women throughout the twentieth century.

In 1908, Mamie Garrahan faces childbirth aided by her arsenic-eating sister-in-law Kitty, a nun who grows opium poppies, and a doctor who prescribes Bayer Heroin. "In the twentieth century, I believe there are no saints left," Mamie remarks. But her daughters and granddaughter test this notion with far-reaching consequences. Kitty's arsenic reappears sixty years later in the hands of her distraught niece. A schoolgirl's passion for the Beatles and Melville—a passion both lonely and funny—shapes her life. Each decade is illuminated by endearingly eccentric characters: an anorexic waitress falls for a wealthy college boy in the jazz age...an exuberant young nurse questions science during the Depression...a homely seamstress designs a scandalous dress in the 1950s. The Nightingales of Troy, the first fiction collection by an acclaimed American poet, creates a vividly palpable sense of time and place. Alice Fulton's memorable characters confront the deepest dilemmas with bravery and abiding love. (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwnorton/3595378377/in/set-72157614754525978)
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.