Rebellion, Molly Patterson
Rebellion, Molly Patterson
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Rebellion
A Novel

Author: Molly Patterson

Narrator: Angela Dawe, Nan McNamara

Unabridged: 19 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 08/08/2017


Synopsis

Reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout and Jane Smiley, Rebellion is a powerful debut novel by Molly Patterson, weaving together the stories of four women unafraid to challenge the boundaries of their lives, spanning generations and taking readers across the globe.In 1890, a young missionary, Addie, has traveled to the town of Lu-cho Fu with her husband, dreaming of making her mark on the world. But Addie’s desires change after meeting a brash and thoroughly modern woman, Poppy, who offers to transform Addie’s destiny. All the while, letters from Addie reach her sister Louisa back home, recently married and struggling with the quiet isolation of being a farmer’s wife. When violence erupts overseas between the Chinese and their unwelcome Christian intruders, Addie’s life takes a mysterious and haunting turn strongly felt by her sister, Louisa, back home.By 1958, Louisa’s daughter Hazel is fighting to maintain control of her land and family in the aftermath of her husband’s untimely death. Reeling from the tragedy, she finds herself drawing closer to the neighboring Hughes family and in the process learns that grief takes on many forms. One hundred years after Addie’s disappearance, Juanlan returns to her hometown with no job and no options. She finds her father ailing and her pregnant sister-in-law restless and angry. While her family and town are rapidly changing, Juanlan feels frozen in place. In search of an outlet for the live wire she feels buried inside, she starts up a love affair with a married man. Interconnected by action and consequence, each woman’s tale brilliantly displays the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligation of family, and the dramatic consequence of charting your own destiny. A vibrant story of compassion and discovery set against a century of complicated relations between China and America, Rebellion celebrates those who fight against expectation in pursuit of their own thrilling fate, and introduces a rising literary star.

About Molly Patterson

Molly Patterson was born in St. Louis and lived in China for several years. The winner of a 2014 Pushcart Prize, she was also the 2012-2013 writer-in-residence at St. Albans School in Washington, DC. Her work has appeared in several magazines, including the Atlantic and the Iowa Review. Rebellion is her first novel.


Reviews

I had a hard time rating this book. There are so many things that I liked about it - exceptional writing in many places, characters who I care about in spite of their flaws and lives that drew me in. I also learned interesting things about China during the Boxer Rebellion and in a more modern day ch......more

Goodreads review by Melissa

This was the kind of book I absolutely needed right now: gorgeous, literary prose; deep dives of emotional depth for all of the characters; thematically rich storytelling. Let’s start with the writing. Patterson is an incredibly gifted writer who is able to transform the most mundane tasks and thoug......more

Goodreads review by Lewis

beautifully written ... one gorgeous phrase after another......more

A distance of time and place, spanning 100 years between the late 1890s to the late 1990s, from the rural American heartland to rural China, REBELLION explores themes of personal rebellion and women with similar passions beyond their circumscribed roles. Molly Patterson brings to life women who rebe......more

Goodreads review by Laurie

Four women in four eras are at the center of this book. A Christian missionary, Addie, in China in the years leading up to the Boxer Rebellion; Louisa, Addie’s sister who left a middle class family to homestead in the middle of nowhere; Hazel, Louisa’s granddaughter who is suddenly left a widow with......more