The Excellent Lombards, Jane Hamilton
The Excellent Lombards, Jane Hamilton
4 Rating(s)
List: $24.98 | Sale: $17.49
Club: $12.49

The Excellent Lombards

Author: Jane Hamilton

Narrator: Erin Cottrell

Unabridged: 8 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/19/2016

Synopsis

A new classic from the author of Oprah's Book Club picks A Map of the World and The Book of Ruth.

"This is the book Jane Hamilton was born to write... [it is] magnificent." —Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth

Mary Frances "Frankie" Lombard is fiercely in love with her family's sprawling apple orchard and the tangled web of family members who inhabit it. Content to spend her days planning capers with her brother William, competing with her brainy cousin Amanda, and expertly tending the orchard with her father, Frankie desires nothing more than for the rhythm of life to continue undisturbed. But she cannot help being haunted by the historical fact that some family members end up staying on the farm and others must leave. Change is inevitable, and threats of urbanization, disinheritance, and college applications shake the foundation of Frankie's roots. As Frankie is forced to shed her childhood fantasies and face the possibility of losing the idyllic future she had envisioned for her family, she must decide whether loving something means clinging tightly or letting go.

"Everything you could ask for in a coming-of-age novel-- funny, insightful, observant, saturated with hope and melancholy." —Tom Perotta, author ofLittle Childrenand The Leftovers

"Tender, eccentric, wickedly funny and sage...gives full voice to Jane Hamilton's storytelling gifts." - Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky

About Jane Hamilton

Jane Hamilton lives, works, and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Rochester, Wisconsin.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Always on July 06, 2017

Oh man I'm kind of annoyed because the writing was actually really excellent and I think she really captured the teenage angst thing so well but there wasn't really any plot line to the book. Like I enjoyed reading it but nothing really happened in the book and it really could've been organized bett......more

Goodreads review by Ang on May 10, 2016

This is an episodic, coming-of-age novel. If that sounds like hell to you, you're probably right to avoid it. That said, I didn't find it hellish, just sort of...incomplete. Boring. Also, there was absolutely NOT an ending, and I don't even really understand if the main character actually did come-of......more

Goodreads review by N.L. on July 12, 2016

In The Excellent Lombards Jane Hamilton is doing a Jane Smiley-style farm family story for us. Jane Smiley hasn’t always written about the same farm but she usually writes about a similar era, the era when family farms are no longer profitable, or the children don’t want to continue being farmers, o......more

Goodreads review by Miriam on April 16, 2016

Read my full review here: [URL not allowed] The Excellent Lombards is, as my father would say, "a keeper." It has been several months since I have read a book that I enjoyed as much as this delightful and insightful coming of age story by Jane Hamilton. Mary Francis Lombard o......more

Goodreads review by Connie on August 24, 2016

I received a free copy of The Excellent Lombards from the publisher through a Goodreads Giveaway for an honest review. I loved the narrator of this book, Mary Frances/Frankie/Imp/Francie/Marlene/MF. (Everyone seems to see her differently and at least label her differently.) She grabbed my heart like......more

Quotes

"Tender, astute...[Frankie is] expertly rendered...an inquisitive, imperious but loveable girl akin to Harper Lee's Jean Louise Finch."—New York Times Book Review

"Tender and rueful...Richly characterized, beautifully written, and heartbreakingly poignant-another winner from this talented and popular author."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This is the book Jane Hamilton was born to write, and it is a book that thrilled me to read. THE EXCELLENT LOMBARDS is, in fact, magnificent."—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of State of Wonder

"Hamilton's lushly pleasurable novel of radiant comedy, deep emotions, and resonant realizations considers the wonders of nature, the boon and burden of inheritance, and the blossoming of the self."—Booklist (starred review)

"A book with so much grace, wit, and resonance -- this is one you'll read and reread. I surely did. I laughed, I cried, I pondered, I mourned. I took these characters deeply into my heart. Hamilton at her amazing best. A timeless classic, in its first appearance."—Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and winner of the 2014 PEN / Faulkner Award

"Ms. Hamilton has written what's known as a 'quiet' novel, yet this beautiful coming-of-age story offers a more trenchant narrative."—New York Times

"Peopled with vivid characters...Hamilton gets it, all of it, about life and love and growing up when you just don't want to. She writes with compassion and warmth about how we see our family compared with how they really are, and who we can become when we finally cut the cord and fly free--like it or damn well not."—The Globe and the Mail

"This coming-of-age story is captivating and passionate, taking us back to being a child and believing in one thing wholeheartedly. Simply put, this is a book you won't be able to put down."—BookPage

"Jane Hamilton spins this coming-of-age tale with the same sort of poignancy that earned her previous six novels high praise."—Entertainment Weekly, "10 Books You Have to Read in April"

"Hamilton's lovely coming-of-age tale is a tender portrayal of complex, believable people facing up to change."—People

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