So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesn't want to miss any pleasure it might yield.” —The New York Times Book Review

"These tiny little titles are pocket-sized, shiny, and gorgeous. Featuring authors like Marilynne Robinson and Jeffery Eugenides, they're the kind of books you'll have to own the entire set of, because they're just that pretty — and it happens to be lovely that they fit in just about every bag you own. You can't be caught anywhere without a book, of course." — Julia Seales, Bustle

"Our books today are the neatest little things you’ll see in the rest of 2015’s book-year: a set of Modern Classics from Picador Press, done up in a neat bow!" — Open Letters Monthly

Narrator Therese Plummer tackles this contemporary classic with a shrewd approach and a piercing tone. Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, are orphaned and raised, first, by their loving grandmother, then, by two bungling, lovable aunts, and, ultimately, by Sylvie, the eccentric and distant sister of their late mother. Plummer’s delivery sparkles during dialogue between the sisters, which is characterized by vitality and tenderness. Fingerbone, the mysterious, out-of-the-way town on a glacial lake in the West, is also a fully realized presence, with its extreme weather and a vast landscape captured in Plummer’s performance. Ruth and Lucille’s struggle to grow from girls to women reveals the costs of loss and survival. Plummer’s talented performance is both illuminating and poignant. R.O. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine