The excellent Lombards

*Starred Review* Hamilton has anchored her writing life to her family's Wisconsin apple orchard, and in her warm, funny, and incisive seventh novel, she creates a veritable cosmos out of a Wisconsin family farm, from its fields to its apple trees, lambs, woods, marsh, and ramshackle houses and barns. The Lombards, a colorful, dissonant clan of cousins, are seen through the omnivorous eyes of young Frankie (Mary Frances), a fourth-generation Lombard so enchanted by their land and way of life, so adoring of her brother and father, she plans on dwelling in this humble paradise forever. Yet she knows that conflicts roil between households and that money is tight; she is terrified of the forbidding elder, May Hill, and she battles over her future with her tart-tongued mother, proud director of the town's library, a portal to the larger world. As Frankie vividly recounts the story of her blissful, sporadically traumatic, often-hilarious coming-of-age, Hamilton neatly tags the shaping forces of the 1990s, from suburban sprawl devouring farmland to the dawn of video gaming, and renders the precarious Lombard kingdom mythic with the smothering labyrinth of May Hill's hoarded treasures and the sanctuary of the trees. Hamilton's lushly pleasurable novel of radiant comedy, deep emotions, and resonant realizations considers the wonders of nature, the boon and burden of inheritance, and the blossoming of the self. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hamilton is a library and book-group favorite, and this bright, wise family portrait is sparking great excitement, supported by a strong promotion plan and schedule of personal appearances.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2016 Booklist

Mary Frances Lombard, or Frankie, age 12-known affectionately as Marlene by her father, Jim; Francie by her mother, Nellie, the town librarian; and Imp by her beloved 11-year-old brother, William-is surrounded by Lombards, some excellent, some not. The family live with assorted aunts, uncles, and cousins on a Wisconsin apple farm: a compound consisting of three houses, three barns, and 400 acres of orchards, forests, and marshlands. It's the center of Frankie's universe, and she can't imagine ever leaving it. But life, along with the other Lombards, is conspiring against her. Gentle but keenly observed scenes chronicle Frankie's growing awareness that despite her deepest wish for everything she loves about her home to remain the same, time marches on. Library lovers will get a chuckle over Frankie's and William's annual participation in the Library Cart Drill Team. Verdict Hamilton's work (A Map of the World; The Book of Ruth) is beloved to many Oprah Book Club devotees, who will not be disappointed by her latest. Her intimate knowledge of the joys and struggles of maintaining an apple orchard is apparent, as is her love for rural life. Her novel is about ordinary lives, and the lack of unexpected violence, overhyped drama, and forced hilarity is remarkably refreshing. [See Prepub Alert, 10/12/15.]-Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

*Starred Review* Hamilton has anchored her writing life to her family's Wisconsin apple orchard, and in her warm, funny, and incisive seventh novel, she creates a veritable cosmos out of a Wisconsin family farm, from its fields to its apple trees, lambs, woods, marsh, and ramshackle houses and barns. The Lombards, a colorful, dissonant clan of cousins, are seen through the omnivorous eyes of young Frankie (Mary Frances), a fourth-generation Lombard so enchanted by their land and way of life, so adoring of her brother and father, she plans on dwelling in this humble paradise forever. Yet she knows that conflicts roil between households and that money is tight; she is terrified of the forbidding elder, May Hill, and she battles over her future with her tart-tongued mother, proud director of the town's library, a portal to the larger world. As Frankie vividly recounts the story of her blissful, sporadically traumatic, often-hilarious coming-of-age, Hamilton neatly tags the shaping forces of the 1990s, from suburban sprawl devouring farmland to the dawn of video gaming, and renders the precarious Lombard kingdom mythic with the smothering labyrinth of May Hill's hoarded treasures and the sanctuary of the trees. Hamilton's lushly pleasurable novel of radiant comedy, deep emotions, and resonant realizations considers the wonders of nature, the boon and burden of inheritance, and the blossoming of the self. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hamilton is a library and book-group favorite, and this bright, wise family portrait is sparking great excitement, supported by a strong promotion plan and schedule of personal appearances. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

In this newest from Hamilton, whose The Book of Ruth (1988) and A Map of the World (1994) were both PEN Faulkner Award winners and Oprah's Book Club picks, teenage Mary Frances "Frankie" Lombard adores her crisscrossed family and its sunlit apple orchard, but she knows that good things cannot last. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Mary Frances Lombard, or Frankie, age 12—known affectionately as Marlene by her father, Jim; Francie by her mother, Nellie, the town librarian; and Imp by her beloved 11-year-old brother, William—is surrounded by Lombards, some excellent, some not. The family live with assorted aunts, uncles, and cousins on a Wisconsin apple farm: a compound consisting of three houses, three barns, and 400 acres of orchards, forests, and marshlands. It's the center of Frankie's universe, and she can't imagine ever leaving it. But life, along with the other Lombards, is conspiring against her. Gentle but keenly observed scenes chronicle Frankie's growing awareness that despite her deepest wish for everything she loves about her home to remain the same, time marches on. Library lovers will get a chuckle over Frankie's and William's annual participation in the Library Cart Drill Team. Verdict Hamilton's work (A Map of the World; The Book of Ruth) is beloved to many Oprah Book Club devotees, who will not be disappointed by her latest. Her intimate knowledge of the joys and struggles of maintaining an apple orchard is apparent, as is her love for rural life. Her novel is about ordinary lives, and the lack of unexpected violence, overhyped drama, and forced hilarity is remarkably refreshing. [See Prepub Alert, 10/12/15.]—Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA (c) Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.