Better to Wish

Starred review from April 1, 2013
Martin (Ten Rules for Living with My Sister) paints an authentic picture of white middle-class life during the 1930s in this first installment of the Family Tree series, tracing four generations of American girls. Growing up in Maine, eight-year-old Abby Nichols is the oldest daughter of an ambitious carpenter eager to realize the American Dream. But his prejudices are strong, too: he won’t let Abby associate with her Irish Catholic neighbor, Orrin, among others. As Abby’s father gains success, she enjoys more privileges, including a big new house in the city, but the family’s newfound prosperity doesn’t ease her outrage over her father’s mistreatment of the less fortunate, including Abby’s mentally impaired baby brother. Besides addressing the subject of bigotry, Martin underscores the powerlessness of wives and children at the time, revealing the positive and negative sides of tight family bonds. Abby grows into a resilient young woman (the novel spans more than 10 years), willing to speaks her mind and
assert her independence. Martin incorporates universal themes into this period piece, and her poignant writing is sure to satisfy fans. Ages 8–12. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.

April 15, 2013
Martin delivers the first novel of a planned quartet, set to span four generations of daughters. In a brief prologue, 100-year-old Abby muses about time's swift passage and the kaleidoscopic aspect of memories--and secrets-- recalled from the past. Readers meet Abby Nichols at age 8 in 1930. She's big sister to Rose, good friend to Sarah and Orrin, and she's already expert at navigating the moods of her domineering father, Luther, and emotionally fragile mother, Nell. Ensuing chapters cover 15 years. Luther builds a prosperous business, moving the family from their small Maine seaside cottage to a fancy house in a larger town. Servants, store-bought dresses and Zander, the appealing boy next door don't dampen Abby's longing for the authentic friendships of life before. Her academic and social successes are pummeled by tragedy: Beloved Sarah drowns in an icy pond, and Nell breaks after Luther secretly institutionalizes their developmentally disabled 5-year-old son. While outwardly obeisant to her bigoted father--who cruelly forbids friendships, jobs and college--Abby builds a capacity for compassion that sustains her siblings. Eventually--and critically--she learns to use it to nurture herself. In a 1945 epilogue, Abby's a working girl in New York City--and Zander's on her doorstep. Some threads--whither Orrin?--are left dangling. But the deftly rendered theme of personal resilience, laced with romance and Americana, will earn this a deservedly wide audience. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

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June 1, 2013

Gr 3-7-In a small town in 1930s Maine, Abby Nichols is happy in her small bungalow by the sea. Life is stable, but not without challenges; her father has a volatile temper and is biased against people who are different and her mother experiences bouts with sadness and sees ghosts from the past. However, Abby finds solace and pleasure in her longtime friendships with Orrin and Sarah. Despite the changing times and the onset of the Great Depression, the family furniture business begins to boom and her father proudly moves them to a big house in a bigger town, complete with hired help. Regretfully saying goodbye to the house and friends she's so fond of is only the beginning of a life of love and loss, triumph and struggle for Abby. This first in a series is sure to be a hit with children, especially fans of historical fiction. The descriptive writing transports them right back to this fascinating period in time when families grappled with economic challenges, civil-rights injustices, and everyday concerns. Martin writes with respect for her readers, piquing their interest in history and tackling real-life issues head-on, but with grace. The series will continue with three more books following the lives of Abby's daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter.-Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2013
Grades 5-7 Abby's story begins in 1930, when she is eight years old and a traveling fair visits her village in Maine. While coping with her strict father's intolerance and her gentle mother's depression, she grows up chapter by episodic chapter, buying her sister a tea set for Christmas, losing her closest childhood friend, and feeling angry but helpless when her father institutionalizes her five-year-old brother, who has developmental disabilities. Eventually, Abby turns down the suitor her father insists that she marry and moves to New York City alone. With period attitudes woven seamlessly into the narrative, this historical novel reflects social norms during Abby's life. The individual scenes are vividly written and the overall story is engaging, but the 23-year time frame may limit its audience. However, in the Family Tree series, Martin plans to tell the stories of four girls from succeeding generations. Readers won over by Abby will happily look for her return as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

June 24, 2013
This first book of Martin’s new Family Tree series tells of the childhood of Abby, who lives with her parents and little sister in a small Maine town in the 1930s. Each chapter moves the story ahead a year or two, as Abby grows from a young girl excited about a carnival to a young woman who rejects her father’s insistence that she marry a wealthy neighbor’s son and moves to New York City to pursue a career. In the intervening years, Abby faces many sorrows, including her disabled little brother being sent to an institution and the deaths of her best friend and her mother. Narrator Annalie Gernert’s youthful voice makes her a good match for young Abby, and she differentiates the other characters well, from high-pitched, bubbly little sister Rose to toddler Adele and Abby’s stern, no-nonsense father. Lorna Raver effectively narrates the book’s prologue in which elderly Abby looks back at her life. Ages 8-12. A Scholastic hardcover.

July 1, 2013
The typical historical fiction set during the Great Depression is a story of financial hardship -- but it's not lack of money that's the issue here, in this first of what will be four novels about succeeding generations of women. For eight-year-old Abby and her family, the decade of the 1930s begins with a rise in family fortunes and a move into town (from a modest cottage by the sea in tiny Lewisport, Maine, to a fancy house in a fashionable neighborhood). In a set of short vignettes, one or two per year, we follow Abby through her childhood to 1940 when, at eighteen, she makes the decision to leave home (an epilogue shows her in New York City, working at becoming a writer). As we receive these bulletins, we start to fill in the various strands of the story: an abusive, bigoted, controlling father; a mother prone to depression after a series of miscarriages; the accidental death of a best friend; the family tension caused by a disabled baby brother; issues of class; the poor boyfriend, the rich boyfriend, and the spare boyfriend. The approach here is plain, with lots of unapologetic telling, but the story has that addictive quality of the multigenerational family saga. Who has secrets, and who knows them? What alliances are formed? Who inherited what qualities? Who escaped? Who got lured back? What were the major consequences of minor actions? We're hooked. Bring on the next book, about Abby's daughter Dana, without delay. sarah ellis

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)