Tag generational story

A snow covered white house sits behind a split rail fence, with a pine and winter bare trees in the yard. Old maps of the Chesapeake area are faded into the brown background. the

Meet the Local Author: Ned Tillman

Admin Leave a comment
A snow covered white house sits behind a split rail fence, with a pine and winter bare trees in the yard. Old maps of the Chesapeake area are faded into the

Historical Fiction as a Lens for the Future

Monday, Oct 23
7 – 8 pm
Elkridge Branch
with book discussion at 6:30 pm
Registration recommended.


Award-winning author Ned Tillman discusses his new book, Good Endeavor, and how historical fiction provides perspective on the challenges we face today.

In this historical novel full of colorful characters, Ned Tillman conjures up five generations of his family in an engaging look at how they might have dealt with the critical social, economic, and political issues of their time. Centered on the 300-year-old Good Endeavor homestead (where the author grew up), the book incorporates a slew of family stories, unusual family traits, and artifacts passed down through time.

The protagonist discovers artifacts which incites a desire to know more about the past. The book takes the reader through the lives, loves, and losses of five generations, right up to the present day. Along the way the family members encounter vigilante justice, piracy, bounty hunters, abolitionists, suffragettes, land conservationists, barnstorming, union strikes, integration, and war and climate protests.

Tillman is the author of four books — two nonfiction and two fiction. He discusses the value of both genres for telling the stories of our past and how they can be used to get a sense of how life really was like over the centuries. For this book, he considers (per his comments on Amazon):

* What was life really like over the past 300 years?
* How have our key moral issues changed through time?
* How to tell our stories while breathing life and humanity into all of our ancestors.

The book cover shows a Victorian-era white house with a wide front porch, surrounded by flowers and greenery, with some growing out of the windows. A seagull perches on the cupola at the very top.

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken

juliefitzreader Leave a comment
The book cover shows a Victorian-era white house with a wide front porch, surrounded by flowers and greenery, with some growing out of the windows. A seagull perches on the cupola at the very top.

By Rebecca R.

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken is a story built along side a family history – and an odd one at that. Bertha Truitt, the family’s matriarch loves candlepin bowling and opens a bowling alley in the small town of Salford, MA.

Throughout the book we see Bertha navigate relationships and her bowling alley, which are sometimes indistinguishable from on another. She balances both with a strong and determined hand. She marries Leviticus Sprague and has a daughter, Minna, before she succumbs to drowning in a flood of molasses.

After Bertha dies things start to fall apart. Readers see begin to see the characters for who they really are. Their quirkiness really starts to shine, which, in my mind, makes this story a standout.

We learn that Bertha had a long lost son (or is it her son?). After Leviticus dies (like his wife, under mysterious circumstances), Nahum Truitt comes to Salford to try and run the bowling alley but his heart isn’t in it. Minna is sent away to live with relatives abroad, and she comes in and out of the storyline throughout the book.

More and more odd characters are introduced as the story goes forward, and the Truitt family grows and generations pass. As the story closes we meet Bertha’s great, great, grandchildren and are re-introduced to a character from the beginning of the book who brings the story full circle.

Readers who enjoy authors such as Karen Russell, Lauren Groff, John Irving, or Kristen Arnett should enjoy this book. The characters are well developed, the story is engaging and has visual elements to it that allows readers to easily get to know this family and their small town and follow them through the generations.

Rebecca is the Assistant Branch Manager of the HCLS Glenwood Branch. She enjoys creative art projects and taking long walks with her puppy.