Wild Aster: A Novel

"A powerful, poignant portrait of an unforgettable young woman with a talent for survival, whose life spans the early twentieth century, from a writer acclaimed for her "unwavering passion and insight" (Jess Walter). Mae Smith starts her life as a stolen good: her biological mother, Ida, kidnaps her from her adoptive parents, and Mae grows up on the run, constantly changing towns and names, never able to find a home. After her mother's death, Mae is determined to live a different kind of life. But over the next half century, as she pursues stability against the backdrop of the Depression and Second World War and through the personal upheavals of marriage and motherhood, she must reckon with the choices she's made and the turns that life takes without her having any say at all. For readers of Zorrie by Laird Hunt, The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott, and The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, Wild Aster explores the price of security, the drive to be a different mother than the one who raised you, and the daily gains and losses that define who we become. Ultimately, Mae's story challenges us to confront the choices we make for personal fulfillment and family obligation"--