The Lost Mother

In this Depression-era novel, Thomas and Margaret (aged 12 and eight), abandoned by their mother, live in dire poverty in a tent in the Vermont woods. Desperately missing their mother, with no idea why she left them, the children also don’t know what to make of their father’s abject misery and inability to find enough work to support them beyond the subsistence level. Mary McGarry Morris has been both a finalist for the National Book Award and an Oprah’s Book Club pick.