A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family - Softcover

Philip, Leila

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142001457 ISBN 13: 9780142001455

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2002

Synopsis

The author of The Road Through Miyama plunges into her own family's rich history along the shores of the Hudson River to uncover evidence of tenant farmers, renegade aunts, secret children, manor lords, and other colorful figures. Reprint.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Encompassing three centuries of manor lords and tenant farmers, Civil War heroes and renegade aunts, award-winning author Leila Philip tells the story of her ancestral Hudson Valley home, Talavera, and the mystery of her attachment to it. After her father's death in 1992, Leila and her family struggled to find the means to keep their farm intact. This uphill battle led her to examine the forces that compel a family to sacrifice almost everything to hold onto a particular piece of land.

Newly republished with a folio of historic photographs and an epilogue that updates the story of the farm and the family to the present, A Family Place addresses the tensions between memory and recorded fact, inviting readers to take a new look at their own sense of home.

"Philip grafts history, natural history, and autobiography into a stunning performance." -- Maureen Howard, author of Big as Life

"Mesmerizing ... Both narrative threads are profoundly personal. Braided together with insight, they pay homage to the ideals of home and family with a resonance that should extend beyond her home region." -- Publishers Weekly

" ... an unpretentious, subtly shaded story of the importance of understanding the ghosts and heroes that reside in every ancestral home." -- New York Times

"An exquisite rendering of a Hudson Valley family farm, as detailed and colored as a Persian miniature. Philip's family history is alarmingly transporting, and her sense of place so rich you can taste it." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Riveting ... one of the most finely written family histories available." -- Library Journal

About the Author:

Leila Philip is the author of The Road Through Miyama, a memoir of her apprenticeship to a master potter in Japan, for which she won the 1990 PEN/Martha Albrand Special Citation for Nonfiction. She teaches creative writing at Colgate University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0142001457
• ISBN 13: 9780142001455
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288