All the Forgivenesses

July 22, 2019
A strong protagonist is at the center of Hardinger’s debut, an early-1900s tale of a resolute girl in a Midwestern family that’s burdened with hardship. Bertie Winslow is a responsible, observant child with an emotionally absent mother and an alcoholic father who can only be relied on to cruelly tease his children. At nine years old, Bertie is forced to care for her sisters, baby Opal and 3-year-old Dacia, and by the time Bertie is 11, she also needs to tend to her depressed mother’s new baby twins. Several years later, Bertie’s mother becomes ill and dies, leaving Bertie in charge of four children. Because the family is poor and the father is often away on binges, the struggles Bertie must endure with housework and child rearing are nonstop, constantly testing her emotional fortitude. Bertie finally decides she must marry—she’s fortunate to find a good man—and when they relocate from Missouri to Kansas, her one friend, Alta Bea, follows with her own new husband. The friendship is sometimes awkward, because Alta Bea is a modern thinker, but Bertie continually gains wisdom in all areas of her life. The characters in this story are vividly portrayed, with nuanced, complex personalities. The resilience and strength of the narrator will stay with readers long after they’ve finished.

July 12, 2019

DEBUT Born in the late 19th century, Albertina "Bertie" Winslow is the oldest daughter of an impoverished family living in southeastern Kentucky. When Bertie is a teenager, her father Albert, decides to move the family to Missouri. There, Bertie's mother, Polly, is depressed and rarely leaves her bed, Albert drinks to excess, and Bertie's two older brothers venture out in search of work. When Polly dies, Bertie becomes the family matriarch, caring for her younger sisters Dacia and Opal, and twin brothers. As misfortune weighs down on Bertie, she decides to marry in order to provide for her younger siblings and finds a kind man in Sam. Shortly after their wedding, Bertie and Sam relocate to Kansas, making the difficult decision to leave the twin boys with Bertie's older brother, and taking Dacia and Opal with them. Bertie and Sam hope for a chance at a better life in Kansas. Instead, Dacia reveals a long-held secret to Bertie that causes a rift between the sisters and reverberates to the next generation. VERDICT This emotional story of deep hardship is told in Bertie's distinct voice and is recommended for readers who enjoyed Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell and Jane Hamilton's The Book of Ruth.--Emily Hamstra, Seattle

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.