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A Hundred Small Lessons: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

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Published:
Atria Books 2017
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Checked Out
Description
Through the richly intertwined narratives of two women from different generations, Ashley Hay, known for her "elegant prose, which draws warm and textured portraits as it celebrates the web of human stories" (New York Times Book Review) weaves an intricate, bighearted tale of the many small decisions—the invisible moments—that come to make a life.

"Readers who loved the quiet introspection of Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge will enjoy the detailed emotional journeys of Hay's characters. Their stories will linger long after the final page is turned" (Library Journal).
When Elsie Gormley falls and is forced to leave her Brisbane home of sixty-two years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to make the house their own. Still, Lucy can't help but feel that she's unwittingly stumbled into an entirely new life—new house, new city, new baby—and she struggles to navigate the journey from adventurous lover to young parent.

In her nearby nursing facility, Elsie traces the years she spent in her beloved house, where she too transformed from a naïve newlywed into a wife and mother, and eventually, a widow. Gradually, the boundary between present and past becomes more porous for her, and for Lucy—because the house has secrets of its own, and its rooms seem to share with Lucy memories from Elsie's life.

Luminous and deeply affecting, A Hundred Small Lessons is a "lyrically written portrayal" (BookPage, Top Pick) of what it means to be human, and how a place can transform who we are. It's about a house that becomes much more than a home, and the shifting identities of mother and daughter; father and son. Above all else, this is a story of the surprising and miraculous ways that our lives intersect with those who have come before us, and those who follow.
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
11/28/2017
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781501165153
ASIN:
B071XSW4MT
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Ashley Hay. (2017). A Hundred Small Lessons: A Novel. Atria Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Ashley Hay. 2017. A Hundred Small Lessons: A Novel. Atria Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Ashley Hay, A Hundred Small Lessons: A Novel. Atria Books, 2017.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Ashley Hay. A Hundred Small Lessons: A Novel. Atria Books, 2017.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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99bd68ec-f90d-febc-b0a7-fec00701dc76
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Needs Update?:
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 15:14:54
Date Updated:
Dec 06, 2020 02:40:29
Last Metadata Check:
May 08, 2022 03:14:38
Last Metadata Change:
Apr 24, 2022 03:13:41
Last Availability Check:
Apr 21, 2024 03:21:45
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May 15, 2022 00:35:29
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
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      • bioText: Ashley Hay is the internationally acclaimed author of the novels A Hundred Small Lessons, The Body in the Clouds, and The Railwayman's Wife, which was honored with the Colin Roderick Award by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the most prestigious literary prize in Australia, among numerous other accolades. She has also written four nonfiction books. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.
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shortDescription
Through the richly intertwined narratives of two women from different generations, Ashley Hay, known for her "elegant prose, which draws warm and textured portraits as it celebrates the web of human stories" (New York Times Book Review) weaves an intricate, bighearted tale of the many small decisions—the invisible moments—that come to make a life.

"Readers who loved the quiet introspection of Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge will enjoy the detailed emotional journeys of Hay's characters. Their stories will linger long after the final page is turned" (Library Journal).
When Elsie Gormley falls and is forced to leave her Brisbane home of sixty-two years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to make the house their own. Still, Lucy can't help but feel that she's unwittingly stumbled into an entirely new life—new house, new city, new baby—and she struggles to...
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title
A Hundred Small Lessons
fullDescription
Through the richly intertwined narratives of two women from different generations, Ashley Hay, known for her "elegant prose, which draws warm and textured portraits as it celebrates the web of human stories" (New York Times Book Review) weaves an intricate, bighearted tale of the many small decisions—the invisible moments—that come to make a life.

"Readers who loved the quiet introspection of Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge will enjoy the detailed emotional journeys of Hay's characters. Their stories will linger long after the final page is turned" (Library Journal).
When Elsie Gormley falls and is forced to leave her Brisbane home of sixty-two years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to make the house their own. Still, Lucy can't help but feel that she's unwittingly stumbled into an entirely new life—new house, new city, new baby—and she struggles to navigate the journey from adventurous lover to young parent.

In her nearby nursing facility, Elsie traces the years she spent in her beloved house, where she too transformed from a naïve newlywed into a wife and mother, and eventually, a widow. Gradually, the boundary between present and past becomes more porous for her, and for Lucy—because the house has secrets of its own, and its rooms seem to share with Lucy memories from Elsie's life.

Luminous and deeply affecting, A Hundred Small Lessons is a "lyrically written portrayal" (BookPage, Top Pick) of what it means to be human, and how a place can transform who we are. It's about a house that becomes much more than a home, and the shifting identities of mother and daughter; father and son. Above all else, this is a story of the surprising and miraculous ways that our lives intersect with those who have come before us, and those who follow.
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      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
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        October 1, 2017

        With the creak of worn wooden stairs and whispers on the breeze blowing through the jacaranda trees, a house in Brisbane, Australia, welcomes its new, young owners while bidding farewell to the woman who'd lived there for more than 60 years. After raising her family, 89-year-old Elsie Gormley is moved to a nursing center upon suffering dementia. Lucy Kiss and Ben Carter and their toddler, Tom, move into Elsie's house, where they weather the growing pains of being parents. This contemplative novel (Hay's third after The Railway Man's Wife and The Body in the Clouds) explores the emotions of saying goodbye to a life of familiarity and embracing the unknown. It takes us through the complex relationships between parent and child and ever-shifting struggle of motherhood and examines the fear and courage that are rooted in shedding the past and looking forward to the future. VERDICT Readers who loved the quiet introspection of Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge will enjoy the detailed emotional journeys of Hay's characters. Their stories will linger long after the final page is turned.--Kirsche Romo, Duncanville, TX

        Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        October 1, 2017
        If home is where the heart is, when does a house become a home--or, conversely, stop being one? Two women struggle to find the answer.Soon after Lucy Kiss, her husband, Ben, and their baby, Tom, move from Sydney to Brisbane, Lucy's original enthusiasm sours as she struggles to find her footing in less-familiar surroundings while adjusting to the demands of full-time motherhood. Lucy is interested in learning about the house's former owner, elderly Elsie Gormley, who lived there all her married life and decades more after her husband died. Elsie's children have moved her to a nearby nursing home--and sold the house to Lucy and Ben--but Elsie's memory still takes her home in her mind. And perhaps she actually wanders there, or so Lucy suspects. Lucy's fascination grows as she discovers photos left in the attic. She begins to feel Elsie's presence and see footprints on the damp lawn in the morning, much to Ben's chagrin. And Elsie seems equally interested in the new occupants of her former house. Her aging memories give the book a timeless sense of marriage and motherhood and perhaps a flicker of what Lucy may find in her future. The home that Elsie must give up with regret, Lucy must learn to love. This is typical of Hay (The Railwayman's Wife, 2013, etc.), who slowly weaves a tale of past and present lives, exploring the sense that the gap between the two women is not impervious to sensitive souls. Both Elsie and Lucy are finely and sympathetically drawn, and their lives highlight issues that affect many women.A cerebral tale, slow-moving but profound.

        COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        October 30, 2017
        Hay’s engaging third novel (after The Railwayman’s Wife) explores the lives of two women connected by a house. In Brisbane, Australia, Lucy Kiss; her husband, Ben; and their young son, Tom, have just moved into the home where Elsie Gormley lived for more than 60 years. Elsie’s children decided that it was time for her to move to a nursing home because of a recent fall after which she lay helpless on the floor for hours. Through flashbacks, Hay recounts Elsie’s life with her husband, Clem, and twins Don and Elaine. Elsie’s memories are cleverly juxtaposed against Lucy’s early motherhood, and though Lucy has traveled the world with her husband as he changed jobs and Elsie lived in Brisbane her entire married life, the similarities in the two women’s lives gradually come to the forefront. Hay’s perceptive prose illuminates both Elsie’s and Lucy’s lives, resulting in a rich dual character study that spans generations.

subtitle
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publisher
Atria Books
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