Pears on a Willow Tree

Book excerpt: This “rich, intricate, heartfelt novel” follows generations of women as they grapple with the family roots that bind and sustain us all (The Washington Post). The Marchewka women relish the joys of family, from preparing traditional holiday meals to throwing lively, homespun weddings. They are the foundation of a proud Polish-American family—one that has survived the hardships of emigration and assimilation in the 20th century. But as the older women keep traditions alive, the younger women face modern problems that require more than a kind word from mother. Amy is separated by four generations from her immigrant great-grandmother Rose. Rose’s daughter Helen adjusted to the family’s new home in a way her mother never could, while at the same time accepting the importance of Old Country ways. But Helen’s daughter Ginger finds herself suffocating within the close-knit family, the first Marchewka woman to leave Detroit for a life beyond the reach of her family. It’s in the American West that Ginger raises her daughter Amy—who finds herself uprooted from the recipes, memories, and tangled relationships of previous generations. But Amy is about to realize that there may be room in her heart for both the Old World and the New.