Homestead

From the author of the legendary classic novel Faultline comes this unforgettable depiction of three generations of women in a vivid, authentic, and luminous story of their lives and times.

Set in Florida and Georgia during a profoundly transitional period of American life, Homestead opens in the 1920s with the birth of Joyce, daughter to Mary Beth, who has dutifully married the widower of her dead sister. Bound to a man whose judgments threaten disaster if not calamity, denied a love she dares not contemplate, Mary Beth lends her strength and resourcefulness toward carrying her family through the life-changing times of prohibition and the Great Depression. In a world fully controlled by men, Mary Beth, and the servant-class women around her, allow new and different choices for Joyce and her future. Yet Joyce too is constrained, by society’s expectations, and even more powerfully, her own sense of duty and obligation. And then Amelia is born...

How these women endure, innovate, and support one another to overcome the circumstances of their lives is the deeply affecting, flesh and blood story in Homestead, a lyrically beautiful homage to the strength and resiliency of women.

Sheila Ortiz Taylor is a California-born, lesbian, Latina writer who taught fiction writing and literature at Florida State University for thirty-three years. Her six previous novels include Faultline, Coachella, and most recently Assisted Living. Her work, including the memoir, Imaginary Parents, is frequently taught in universities throughout this country and around the world. She has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, two Florida Indvidual Artist Fellowships, and an NEA Writing Fellowship. She lives in Tallahassee with her partner of twenty years.