The narration takes place in the first person plural, an effect that Margaret Atwood believed evoked the collective female unconscious.
[3] The book drew comparisons to the works of Anne Tyler, Marilynne Robinson, Douglas Unger and Susan Engberg.
The granddaughters are relatively close in age and act nearly as one body until their slightly older cousin Celia hits puberty and begins to attract male attention, much to the distress of her mother, Aunt Libby.
Forced into domestic labour at an early age, Lil married a man she loved, Jacob, who quickly turned abusive.
Endowed with his gifts, Lil becomes an independent woman buying farmland, educating her daughters and ensuring that they always have a home to stay in as they struggle through their marriages and motherhood.
Grace's illness brings her the attention of her sister Elinor, a rich ad executive living in New York City.
Though Grace manages to outlive the time frame her doctor's had promised she does die and Elinor misses her death by a matter of hours.