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Natural History
In Natural History, Andrea Barrett completes the beautiful arc of intertwined lives of a family of scientists, teachers, and innovators that she has been weaving through multiple books since her National Book Award–winning collection, Ship Fever. The six exquisite stories in Natural History are set largely in a small community in central New York state and portray some of her most beloved characters, spanning the decades between the Civil War to the present day. In “Henrietta and Her Moths,” a woman tends to an insect nursery as her sister’s life follows a different path. In “Open House,” a young man grapples with a choice between a thrilling life spent discovering fossils and a desire to remain close to home. And in the magnificent title novella, “Natural History,” Barrett deepens the connection between her characters, bringing us through to the present day and providing an unforgettable capstone.
Told with Barrett’s characteristic elegance, passion for science, and wonderful eye for the natural world, the psychologically astute and moving stories gathered in this collection evoke the ways women’s lives and expectations—in families, in work, and in love—have shifted across a century and more. Building upon one another, these tales brilliantly culminate to reveal how the smallest events of the past can have large reverberations across the generations, and how potent, wondrous, and strange the relationship between history and memory can be.
Told with Barrett’s characteristic elegance, passion for science, and wonderful eye for the natural world, the psychologically astute and moving stories gathered in this collection evoke the ways women’s lives and expectations—in families, in work, and in love—have shifted across a century and more. Building upon one another, these tales brilliantly culminate to reveal how the smallest events of the past can have large reverberations across the generations, and how potent, wondrous, and strange the relationship between history and memory can be.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2022
103 people are currently reading
6500 people want to read
About the author
Andrea Barrett
41 books334 followersAndrea Barrett is the author of The Air We Breathe, Servants of the Map (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), The Voyage of the Narwhal, Ship Fever (winner of the National Book Award), and other books. She teaches at Williams College and lives in northwestern Massachusetts.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews
September 10, 2022
Natural History by Adrea Barrett is the culmination of a collection of characters featured in her work since the publication of Ship Fever in 1996. This series of six interconnected stories is a progression of her earlier work but since this is my first read by Barrett, I can attest to the fact that it stands on its own without dilution or needed context. Yet I now find myself in the position of having started at the end, wanting to go back to the beginning. A master at weaving together short stories with a common thread, Barrett creates intimate glimpses into the lives of characters that seem timeless. Spanning from pre-Civil War to the current era, her stories invite us to witness the dynamics of family versus ambition and societal expectations versus following one’s bliss.
The central character in this collection is Henrietta Atkins, a scientist and high school biology teacher from a small town in central New York who lives a full life conducting research and exposing young people to the wonders of the natural world. Non-traditional in her singleness, she chooses to follow her interests and gain a sense of significance through the contributions she makes to science and the lives of her students. In “Henrietta and Her Moths,” she grapples with being supportive to her sister, who is in the early years of raising three children, while she herself spends most of her time in her insect nursery. Other stories highlight a student or family member of Henrietta and how they too wrestle with questions of family, ambition and loyalty. The women in these stories share strong friendships with complex dynamics and an unflinching desire to be true to their own nature.
Barrett’s writing is as intricate and varied as the Lepidoptera that unfold on her pages. Her knowledge and appreciation of the natural world are as obvious as her keen insight into the human condition. Spending time in her stories brings about the small-town feeling of camaraderie and loneliness that exists in every human heart. In short, they feel like home.
Thank you to NetGalley and WW Norton and Company for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This beautiful collection alights on shelves September 13, 2022.
The central character in this collection is Henrietta Atkins, a scientist and high school biology teacher from a small town in central New York who lives a full life conducting research and exposing young people to the wonders of the natural world. Non-traditional in her singleness, she chooses to follow her interests and gain a sense of significance through the contributions she makes to science and the lives of her students. In “Henrietta and Her Moths,” she grapples with being supportive to her sister, who is in the early years of raising three children, while she herself spends most of her time in her insect nursery. Other stories highlight a student or family member of Henrietta and how they too wrestle with questions of family, ambition and loyalty. The women in these stories share strong friendships with complex dynamics and an unflinching desire to be true to their own nature.
Barrett’s writing is as intricate and varied as the Lepidoptera that unfold on her pages. Her knowledge and appreciation of the natural world are as obvious as her keen insight into the human condition. Spending time in her stories brings about the small-town feeling of camaraderie and loneliness that exists in every human heart. In short, they feel like home.
Thank you to NetGalley and WW Norton and Company for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This beautiful collection alights on shelves September 13, 2022.
June 4, 2025
This book is Barrett's most recent collection of short stories. These six stories are primarily linked around the character of Henrietta Atkins, an aspiring scientist who returns to her small town to teach generations of high school students. Each story reveals Miss Atkins as she grows from young girl to an older woman and the talented students who emerge from her classes. Barrett weaves historical scientific persons into these stories with such ease that it is difficult for this reader to differentiate between the real and the fictional characters.
I listened to the audio read by Teri Schnaubelt who does a wonderful job and the hardcover print of the text in my reading. I did not find the stories as compelling as my reading of Ship Fever, her earlier work of stories yet some of the same historical characters appeared, primarily the Marburg sisters and I was cheered to meet them again in these pages. Barrett's appreciation of nature and the intertwining of science into this world are make her short collections unique and fascinating for me.
I listened to the audio read by Teri Schnaubelt who does a wonderful job and the hardcover print of the text in my reading. I did not find the stories as compelling as my reading of Ship Fever, her earlier work of stories yet some of the same historical characters appeared, primarily the Marburg sisters and I was cheered to meet them again in these pages. Barrett's appreciation of nature and the intertwining of science into this world are make her short collections unique and fascinating for me.
June 24, 2022
I discovered Andrea Barrett many years ago when I picked up her National Book Award winning volume of short stories Ship Fever and I have been pleased to have read other of her books since then, including Servants of the Map and The Voyage of the Narwhal.
Ship Fever included the story The Marburg Sisters who had an interest in science. Barrett continued to imagine the sisters family lineage and the source of their interest in nature and science, creating an entire family tree of people who appear in the stories in Natural History.
I loved these interrelated stories that span across history, the women who dedicate their lives to a love of nature and the fulfillment of their natural curiosity, but are caught up in family needs and demands.
There is Henrietta who is a stellar teacher of natural history and a loving aunt. As a girl, she was hired to help care for the children of a local family and became involved with preserving letters from the sons fighting in the Civil War, allowing insight into the experience of war and its trauma, including bodily harm that handicaps for life and the mental anguish that drove a son into hiding. As a teacher, she shares the wonder of the world with students, encouraging students with ability toward higher education. She is tied to her home and family’s needs when she could have become something more, but her impact on her students is evidenced in the stories.
The men are caught between expectations to take on the family business and the lure of leaving for an education and career in the greater world. Prohibition forces a winery to get creative to survive. A fearless girl grows up to be a stunt pilot.
The stories give insight into the limitations female scientists have always faced, the relationships between them and their peers, and into the changing nature of the study of the natural sciences.
In the last story, Natural History, we meet Rose Marburg who first appeared in Ship Fever. She gave up lab work to teach where her ancestor Harriet had taught; “what a business science had become,” she shares, “the wonder, gone.” She writes about women scientists, and is writing about Henrietta.
Often I don’t know what I mean; when I try to say what I mean, I lie; it seems I only tell the truth when I’m talking about someone else. In those sketches of Henrietta’s world, my own experiences had metamorphosed.
from Natural History by Andrea Barrett
“A lot of those women naturalists are really interesting,” a woman tells her, “Not just the work they did, but how they did it.” More than interesting, I would comment; they are fascinating as fictional historical figures.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss. My review is fair and unbiased.
Ship Fever included the story The Marburg Sisters who had an interest in science. Barrett continued to imagine the sisters family lineage and the source of their interest in nature and science, creating an entire family tree of people who appear in the stories in Natural History.
I loved these interrelated stories that span across history, the women who dedicate their lives to a love of nature and the fulfillment of their natural curiosity, but are caught up in family needs and demands.
There is Henrietta who is a stellar teacher of natural history and a loving aunt. As a girl, she was hired to help care for the children of a local family and became involved with preserving letters from the sons fighting in the Civil War, allowing insight into the experience of war and its trauma, including bodily harm that handicaps for life and the mental anguish that drove a son into hiding. As a teacher, she shares the wonder of the world with students, encouraging students with ability toward higher education. She is tied to her home and family’s needs when she could have become something more, but her impact on her students is evidenced in the stories.
The men are caught between expectations to take on the family business and the lure of leaving for an education and career in the greater world. Prohibition forces a winery to get creative to survive. A fearless girl grows up to be a stunt pilot.
The stories give insight into the limitations female scientists have always faced, the relationships between them and their peers, and into the changing nature of the study of the natural sciences.
In the last story, Natural History, we meet Rose Marburg who first appeared in Ship Fever. She gave up lab work to teach where her ancestor Harriet had taught; “what a business science had become,” she shares, “the wonder, gone.” She writes about women scientists, and is writing about Henrietta.
Often I don’t know what I mean; when I try to say what I mean, I lie; it seems I only tell the truth when I’m talking about someone else. In those sketches of Henrietta’s world, my own experiences had metamorphosed.
from Natural History by Andrea Barrett
“A lot of those women naturalists are really interesting,” a woman tells her, “Not just the work they did, but how they did it.” More than interesting, I would comment; they are fascinating as fictional historical figures.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss. My review is fair and unbiased.
October 24, 2022
Barrett paints detailed and intimate portraits of her characters. She creates highly descriptive landscapes, but it's definitely people who always occupy the center of attention in the foreground.
While reading these interconnected stories, I am reminded of Anthony Doerr's very early short story called "The Caretaker" published in the volume THE SHELL COLLECTOR. The stories reflect similar themes: the natural world, the passing of time, the simple seashore creatures, plants and other life found in/near tide pools. The difference is one of focus, or emphasis. While Doerr's lone caretaker expands the natural world and compresses his place in it, Barrett's multiple characters are expanded in terms of how they interact with each other, balanced by a foundation of respect for, and interest in, the natural world, a way of using the timelessness of biology and botany to anchor a rapidly changing world. Doerr's caretaker, in contrast, has few expectations to meet, just as the fields, rivers, tide creatures, and marsh plants have their stalwart roles.
For readers interested in unbelievable biological detail, Doerr's focus will be more satisfying. For students of history, psychology, society, and culture, with a wonderful heaping side of biology/biochemistry/ botany, Barrett may be a better fit, particularly since she centers women in science.
There are secrets, intrigue, adventure, daring, and no small amount of subterfuge in these stories, as well as Barrett's lush and abiding love of biodiversity, a heady combination, but one that works. The last story is simply beautiful, as it pulls all the story channels together into something larger than itself.
I would definitely read more by this author.
While reading these interconnected stories, I am reminded of Anthony Doerr's very early short story called "The Caretaker" published in the volume THE SHELL COLLECTOR. The stories reflect similar themes: the natural world, the passing of time, the simple seashore creatures, plants and other life found in/near tide pools. The difference is one of focus, or emphasis. While Doerr's lone caretaker expands the natural world and compresses his place in it, Barrett's multiple characters are expanded in terms of how they interact with each other, balanced by a foundation of respect for, and interest in, the natural world, a way of using the timelessness of biology and botany to anchor a rapidly changing world. Doerr's caretaker, in contrast, has few expectations to meet, just as the fields, rivers, tide creatures, and marsh plants have their stalwart roles.
For readers interested in unbelievable biological detail, Doerr's focus will be more satisfying. For students of history, psychology, society, and culture, with a wonderful heaping side of biology/biochemistry/ botany, Barrett may be a better fit, particularly since she centers women in science.
There are secrets, intrigue, adventure, daring, and no small amount of subterfuge in these stories, as well as Barrett's lush and abiding love of biodiversity, a heady combination, but one that works. The last story is simply beautiful, as it pulls all the story channels together into something larger than itself.
I would definitely read more by this author.
July 4, 2022
Natural History is a linked short story collection, and I'm normally distrustful of this structure, but I thought that Andrea Barrett overall did a good job with the form, particularly in the first section, where the characters are more closely intertwined. It was exciting to get to see little peeks at their lives, with certain things making more sense as I read further stories, or vice versa. Often a linked short story collection will feel as if it would have benefitted from either being a short story collection or a novel, and, to its credit, Natural History definitely felt like it needed to be a novel in stories.
Andrea Barrett is a shrewd observer who is capable of bringing characters to life quickly, with small details, and evoking a mood within a couple of sentences. I felt as if I were immersed in the lives and minds of her characters throughout.
I also loved the way Barrett deals with time in these stories. The stories mostly move forward in time, but there are a few little moves backward, that give important context and history. It kept me on my toes and always made sense!
Overall, I very much enjoyed my time with Natural History, and was grateful to be in the hands of a master storyteller like Andrea Barrett.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for giving me an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Andrea Barrett is a shrewd observer who is capable of bringing characters to life quickly, with small details, and evoking a mood within a couple of sentences. I felt as if I were immersed in the lives and minds of her characters throughout.
I also loved the way Barrett deals with time in these stories. The stories mostly move forward in time, but there are a few little moves backward, that give important context and history. It kept me on my toes and always made sense!
Overall, I very much enjoyed my time with Natural History, and was grateful to be in the hands of a master storyteller like Andrea Barrett.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for giving me an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
August 19, 2022
I had not read any of the author’s work prior to hearing about this book. Given that Natural History includes characters from prior stories, I decided to read Ship Fever and Servants of the Map first. I highly recommend reading these two other collections prior to reading Natural History. Having the back story on the characters enhanced my reading experience. The author’s writing style is precise, with just the right balance of historical and scientific details contained in decidedly human stories. Unfortunately, “The Regimental History” did not appeal to me due to the subject matter. However, it was well written and is essential reading because it ties into the other stories. I am thrilled to have discovered this author!
September 6, 2022
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒂.
Henrietta Atkins is an intellectual, one who won spelling bees in grade school and wowed people with the Student Fossil Collection, a born naturalist full of wonder for science. After her teacher training in Oswego, she returns home to teach high school biology and establish several clubs, like the Natural History Club, to brighten young minds. Picking the best, most curious students to aid her in local experiments and studies, there are many lives she touches. An unmarried woman who is rooted in intellectual pursuits, trying her hardest to support the promise she sees shining through her students, she is much more than people see. She meets Daphne Bannister after graduation, and the fast friends vacation together often, enriching one another’s existence. Daphne is a well-known authoress of science guides, flusher with money than a biology teacher’s salary allows, but Henrietta helps with her work allowing them to engage in their shared passions. Without Henrietta’s help, influence, Daphne’s books wouldn’t be as successful. The two women avoid the sort of life that Henrietta’s sister has, full of noise and children. Wasn’t Daphne the one to advise that the single life was richer?
In the first story Daphne and Henrietta are ‘sharing a summer vacation’ on Appledore Island off the New Hampshire coast. Summer, the only time Henrietta can focus on her own investigations fully, not trapped by the demands of her school lesson plans. Sure, she helps with Daphne’s work, but feels so far behind with her own. On the shore, Daphne is collecting samples, with Henrietta’s aide, but it’s the invitation to poet Celia Thaxter’s cottage, with a select guest list of writers, musicians and painters, that pleases Daphne to no end. Henrietta would rather be far from such ‘entertainments’ and immersed in the life and creatures outside, making notes on Darwin’s books. There is no other way to spend her time that is as stimulating as her scientific pursuits, and she is unable to behave otherwise, even at the expense of social graces. It is during this time she has her own secrets from her dear friend. Daphne is wrapped up in making much needed connections and Henrietta, in an artist.
1863 we are taken back to Henrietta’s youth in Hello To You, where her employment at the Deverells place includes gathering and filing letters read by the family and neighbors with news of their boys (sons, brothers) enlisted in the war. Soon, she is enraptured by the missives from the regiments camp in Virginia, written by Mr. Deverell’s young brothers, Vic and Izzy. Most interesting to her, are stories about the Observation balloon. She is soon sharing household secrets, and the mystery of Vic’s absence but is let go when Izzy returns, a wounded war Veteran. The stories are knots and will reach out for her later through Bernard, the young child she tended to when working for the Deverells. Will she be able to set the story straight? Dispel the rumors?
In Henrietta and Her Moths she teaches children to marvel and wonder over moths through their many stages, creating educational spaces with breeding cages. If other locals find it all too peculiar and strange, the members of Henrietta’s Young Lepidopterists Club, as well as students in her classroom where smaller display classes call home, are blessed with a unique education. Too, she helps support her sister Hester through the stages of her pregnancy and helping raise her nieces Marion, Caroline and Elaine. She tirelessly helps while also working on projects, teaching, running labs and working with former students. The reader sees Henrietta as something fierce, if not in the same manner as her well-known friend Daphne. Her love for her sister Hester is strong, even if it keeps her from the work she is doing for Daphne and the deadline. Family seems to swallow her up, and though unmarried, she is still very much attached.
The Accident: Daphne is traveling to watch an air show, one where Henrietta’s niece, Caroline, is an aviator and so begins the story behind the brave woman’s unusual set of scars and what had inspired her best friend’s niece to start flying at all. Open House Henrietta is again at the heart of encouraging or ‘pushing’ the young to find a future that is absorbing, that feeds their talents and curiosity. Charlie’s inheritance is working in his family’s winery but she can see that paleontology is his passion, and he has the chance to study in Pennsylvania. It rubs his father the wrong way, and the professor Henrietta reached out to, once welcoming the idea, is no longer communicating with Charlie. Will he get out, thrive? Why is it when Henrietta tries to encourage people to reach for more she is seen as meddlesome?
It is about science and family but also about women and how expectations hinder choices. In the book, Sebastian is explaining to Rosalind about a phenomenon produced on the trunks of trees, and she is curious about the strange coincidences of their meeting at that exact moment. Later she is drawn to him but scolds herself to ignore him because for a female scientist, it diminishes a woman to have an attachment to a man. Her feelings are incredibly telling, that as a woman, you already aren’t taken seriously in the field and must take extra measures as not to appear ridiculous. Science too, in the future, becomes more of a business but the characters within are driven purely by their love of nature, and their wildly curious minds. Henrietta is at the heart of the stories, never birthing her own children but giving life to ideas, observing of the world what we miss and take for granted. She inspires her family and students alike, and their world would be so much darker without her gifts. The comparison between Daphne’s much freer existence and Henrietta’s many anchors that pulled her away from her work is interesting too. Is one better off? Henrietta is not famous like Charles Darwin, but her work isn’t without value. In a sense, she lives through her entire family line having inspired so many. The women after her, do they have it easier? Do the changing times afford them more opportunity?
This was an interesting read, though not my usual fare. There is something engaging about those who chose the path of intellectuals, and so often for women, shamed for it. Henrietta is a force.
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
W.W. Norton & Company
𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒂.
Henrietta Atkins is an intellectual, one who won spelling bees in grade school and wowed people with the Student Fossil Collection, a born naturalist full of wonder for science. After her teacher training in Oswego, she returns home to teach high school biology and establish several clubs, like the Natural History Club, to brighten young minds. Picking the best, most curious students to aid her in local experiments and studies, there are many lives she touches. An unmarried woman who is rooted in intellectual pursuits, trying her hardest to support the promise she sees shining through her students, she is much more than people see. She meets Daphne Bannister after graduation, and the fast friends vacation together often, enriching one another’s existence. Daphne is a well-known authoress of science guides, flusher with money than a biology teacher’s salary allows, but Henrietta helps with her work allowing them to engage in their shared passions. Without Henrietta’s help, influence, Daphne’s books wouldn’t be as successful. The two women avoid the sort of life that Henrietta’s sister has, full of noise and children. Wasn’t Daphne the one to advise that the single life was richer?
In the first story Daphne and Henrietta are ‘sharing a summer vacation’ on Appledore Island off the New Hampshire coast. Summer, the only time Henrietta can focus on her own investigations fully, not trapped by the demands of her school lesson plans. Sure, she helps with Daphne’s work, but feels so far behind with her own. On the shore, Daphne is collecting samples, with Henrietta’s aide, but it’s the invitation to poet Celia Thaxter’s cottage, with a select guest list of writers, musicians and painters, that pleases Daphne to no end. Henrietta would rather be far from such ‘entertainments’ and immersed in the life and creatures outside, making notes on Darwin’s books. There is no other way to spend her time that is as stimulating as her scientific pursuits, and she is unable to behave otherwise, even at the expense of social graces. It is during this time she has her own secrets from her dear friend. Daphne is wrapped up in making much needed connections and Henrietta, in an artist.
1863 we are taken back to Henrietta’s youth in Hello To You, where her employment at the Deverells place includes gathering and filing letters read by the family and neighbors with news of their boys (sons, brothers) enlisted in the war. Soon, she is enraptured by the missives from the regiments camp in Virginia, written by Mr. Deverell’s young brothers, Vic and Izzy. Most interesting to her, are stories about the Observation balloon. She is soon sharing household secrets, and the mystery of Vic’s absence but is let go when Izzy returns, a wounded war Veteran. The stories are knots and will reach out for her later through Bernard, the young child she tended to when working for the Deverells. Will she be able to set the story straight? Dispel the rumors?
In Henrietta and Her Moths she teaches children to marvel and wonder over moths through their many stages, creating educational spaces with breeding cages. If other locals find it all too peculiar and strange, the members of Henrietta’s Young Lepidopterists Club, as well as students in her classroom where smaller display classes call home, are blessed with a unique education. Too, she helps support her sister Hester through the stages of her pregnancy and helping raise her nieces Marion, Caroline and Elaine. She tirelessly helps while also working on projects, teaching, running labs and working with former students. The reader sees Henrietta as something fierce, if not in the same manner as her well-known friend Daphne. Her love for her sister Hester is strong, even if it keeps her from the work she is doing for Daphne and the deadline. Family seems to swallow her up, and though unmarried, she is still very much attached.
The Accident: Daphne is traveling to watch an air show, one where Henrietta’s niece, Caroline, is an aviator and so begins the story behind the brave woman’s unusual set of scars and what had inspired her best friend’s niece to start flying at all. Open House Henrietta is again at the heart of encouraging or ‘pushing’ the young to find a future that is absorbing, that feeds their talents and curiosity. Charlie’s inheritance is working in his family’s winery but she can see that paleontology is his passion, and he has the chance to study in Pennsylvania. It rubs his father the wrong way, and the professor Henrietta reached out to, once welcoming the idea, is no longer communicating with Charlie. Will he get out, thrive? Why is it when Henrietta tries to encourage people to reach for more she is seen as meddlesome?
It is about science and family but also about women and how expectations hinder choices. In the book, Sebastian is explaining to Rosalind about a phenomenon produced on the trunks of trees, and she is curious about the strange coincidences of their meeting at that exact moment. Later she is drawn to him but scolds herself to ignore him because for a female scientist, it diminishes a woman to have an attachment to a man. Her feelings are incredibly telling, that as a woman, you already aren’t taken seriously in the field and must take extra measures as not to appear ridiculous. Science too, in the future, becomes more of a business but the characters within are driven purely by their love of nature, and their wildly curious minds. Henrietta is at the heart of the stories, never birthing her own children but giving life to ideas, observing of the world what we miss and take for granted. She inspires her family and students alike, and their world would be so much darker without her gifts. The comparison between Daphne’s much freer existence and Henrietta’s many anchors that pulled her away from her work is interesting too. Is one better off? Henrietta is not famous like Charles Darwin, but her work isn’t without value. In a sense, she lives through her entire family line having inspired so many. The women after her, do they have it easier? Do the changing times afford them more opportunity?
This was an interesting read, though not my usual fare. There is something engaging about those who chose the path of intellectuals, and so often for women, shamed for it. Henrietta is a force.
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
W.W. Norton & Company
August 19, 2024
A rare collection of historical-fiction short stories completely focused on the main characters' passions and lifelong works that attract friends, colleague scientists, and admirers, while utterly devoid of falling in love in the traditional sense. I am tired of life's meaning or ultimate goal being tied to a romantic partner, or finding a romantic partner, or daydreaming about romance, or culminating in the pursuit of a suitor. I find this spin especially rare in historical fiction and unusual in fiction generally, as there seems to always be a love interest lurking in the wings. I think romantic love can lead to life's meaning, but it is so overemphasized. This is refreshing.
The thread that ties the stories together is the lasting impact & deep impression these unmarried women scientists make on their communities, families, and successors without marriage or childbearing. There is a giant interconnected family tree at the end of the collection. Many of the important characters are on it, but many are not. It made me wish Barrett had made a second chart detailing only the friendships and mentorships. It takes a village.
Felt well-researched. The prose shifted expertly to colloquial terminology/slang/vocab/lilt from various historical time periods as the story moves from the Civil War to the 1950s, which I found impressive and know is hard to do.
[A silly reminder for me that an unwedded woman might value her freedom and the pursuit of science over marriage to a man & childrearing, and not because she's hiding something about her sexuality (as I frequently enjoy assuming lol). Straight people should and can opt out of traditional wedlock to become lepidopterists. I promise I won't bat an eye.]
The thread that ties the stories together is the lasting impact & deep impression these unmarried women scientists make on their communities, families, and successors without marriage or childbearing. There is a giant interconnected family tree at the end of the collection. Many of the important characters are on it, but many are not. It made me wish Barrett had made a second chart detailing only the friendships and mentorships. It takes a village.
Felt well-researched. The prose shifted expertly to colloquial terminology/slang/vocab/lilt from various historical time periods as the story moves from the Civil War to the 1950s, which I found impressive and know is hard to do.
[A silly reminder for me that an unwedded woman might value her freedom and the pursuit of science over marriage to a man & childrearing, and not because she's hiding something about her sexuality (as I frequently enjoy assuming lol). Straight people should and can opt out of traditional wedlock to become lepidopterists. I promise I won't bat an eye.]
August 8, 2022
Oh This is a Lovely Book
Twenty five years ago Andrea Barrett's short story collection- Ship Fever - which won the National Book Award included a story called the The Marburg Sisters. Since then she has continued to explore this family, beginning in Ireland during the potato famine thru her other books. Natural History, her latest story collection, ends with Rose and Bianca born in the 1950's. And in case we missed the links, there is a family tree at the back of the book. The six stories in Natural History are closely linked and - as with all her writing - deal with well researched science and history, ranging from the civil war to the beginning of the aeronautical age. The greatest gift of this book, however, is her depth of understanding of her characters and their relationships with friends and family and colleagues. Her beautifully written stories show us these people with their dreams and expectations and, often, disappointments. Highly recommended.
Twenty five years ago Andrea Barrett's short story collection- Ship Fever - which won the National Book Award included a story called the The Marburg Sisters. Since then she has continued to explore this family, beginning in Ireland during the potato famine thru her other books. Natural History, her latest story collection, ends with Rose and Bianca born in the 1950's. And in case we missed the links, there is a family tree at the back of the book. The six stories in Natural History are closely linked and - as with all her writing - deal with well researched science and history, ranging from the civil war to the beginning of the aeronautical age. The greatest gift of this book, however, is her depth of understanding of her characters and their relationships with friends and family and colleagues. Her beautifully written stories show us these people with their dreams and expectations and, often, disappointments. Highly recommended.
November 15, 2022
My first by this author, so I was unfamiliar with the characters and found them difficult to follow unless they were repeated in other stories. While I usually enjoy a challenging premise of non-linear storytelling, I just didn’t find the underlying science theme very interesting. On the plus side, I did appreciate the author’s descriptive writing talent. This was not a good book for my usual habit of peripatetic reading (which is why I favor short stories to begin with); I lost track of who’s who between stories and reading sessions.
January 30, 2023
Stark, detailed and wonderful portraits of all the characters. Unfortunately, there were so many it was at times difficult to keep track, especially at points of head hopping, and I belatedly realized these characters exist from other projects by the author as well. While I do believe this collection can exist in isolation, the convoluted connections between the narratives and their relationships to one another familially and platonically made it at times difficult to appreciate the narrative as it was being presented.
September 1, 2022
I had not read any of Andrea Barrett's work before and found it was difficult to follow the characters. It was somewhat confusing when the POV would change mid paragraph. I did enjoy the character Henrietta and will have to get the book that deals with her. I won my copy from a Goodreads giveaway.
August 15, 2022
Wonderful stories connecting the same cast of characters throughout their lives. Occasionally confusing but always magical. I'm so grateful to Netgalley for the chance to review this. The farther in you read the more you understand things from previous stories. I found this book to be similar in tone to Andrea Barret’s previous work. The history and themes are carefully interwoven with threads of humanity that tug at your heart strings. Barret has a gift for effortlessly pulling you into the setting and into the minds of the various characters. She is essentially unmatched in her ability to convey so much in only a few words. All the varying experiences, both personal and cultural, are wonderfully conveyed. This book will quietly, powerfully drift through my mind for years to come.
March 2, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of short stories which often touch on my interests such as the American Civil War, the lives of women, and general American history.
The stories are richly detailed and well written, and I am looking forward to reading more of Andrea Barrett’s books.
The stories are richly detailed and well written, and I am looking forward to reading more of Andrea Barrett’s books.
March 14, 2024
The first story, set in the 1890s on Appledore Island (home of Celia Thaxter) was wonderful, but few of the others really captured my interest.
January 16, 2023
Excellent as a stand alone or a continuation of her other work. My favorite kind of writing which spans generations, focuses on women's internal and social experiences, the interconnectedness of people, place, and time, science and the natural world.
Makes me want to reread Ship Fever and to find the publications from the intervening years.
Makes me want to reread Ship Fever and to find the publications from the intervening years.
February 2, 2023
Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, in exchange for an honest review.
I had never heard of this author before reading this book, so I went in blind and that is probably why I was either bored or confused ...or both, throughout this slim volume.
This book is very, very peopley to the point of being very, very annoying.
I didn't see the chart at the back of the book until after I'd finished, so that helpful addition wasn't helpful to me in any way. Sigh.
1 and a half stars - Didn't hate it, didn't like it, it was just meh.
I had never heard of this author before reading this book, so I went in blind and that is probably why I was either bored or confused ...or both, throughout this slim volume.
This book is very, very peopley to the point of being very, very annoying.
I didn't see the chart at the back of the book until after I'd finished, so that helpful addition wasn't helpful to me in any way. Sigh.
1 and a half stars - Didn't hate it, didn't like it, it was just meh.
August 12, 2022
My love of Barrett's books dates back to 1996 when Ship Fever was published. Since 2013 we have been without a new volume, so I was thrilled to find Natural History as an ARC offered by Net Galley and W. W. Norton & Company. As with Elizabeth Strout's novels, the reader would be rewarded by starting with earlier books and following tales of science and women and women in science. The writing is graceful and colorful, the characters complicated but relatable. Highly recommended.
August 30, 2022
Thanks to the author/publisher for the goodreads giveaway!
Perhaps my review would be different if I had read other stories by this author and already knew the characters. This being the first I’ve read from this author I found myself confused with the stories and attempting to look at the included family tree only made things harder for me. The stories never really engaged me but the author’s love for science showed and was easy to appreciate.
Perhaps my review would be different if I had read other stories by this author and already knew the characters. This being the first I’ve read from this author I found myself confused with the stories and attempting to look at the included family tree only made things harder for me. The stories never really engaged me but the author’s love for science showed and was easy to appreciate.
September 20, 2022
This book is like a box of fine chocolates, meant to be savored slowly. I loved it.
October 21, 2022
The staying power of a passion for the natural world and science through generations of fictional characters and common themes (Upstate New York & an island off of Maine and New Hampshire; 1860s – 2018): “There were some advantages of being a writer of histories,” wrote Willa Cather in The Professor’s House. Andrea Barrett chose that quote to frame her new collection of six short stories, Natural History: Stories. Demonstrating she too is a writer of histories. Intricate ones.
History from multiple perspectives. Barrett’s literary history includes recognition with MacArthur, Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships; finalist for the Pulitzer-Prize; and winning the National Book Award for Ship Fever, a short story collection published in 1996 that’s also being re-released along with this collection. Personally, she once wanted to be a scientist, so she’s channeled her passion for “scientific inquiry” and the natural world into her storytelling.
History also seen through generations of fictional characters and themes connected to each other in this new collection (Barrett acknowledges not all the stories are brand new, but they’ve been newly adapted), as well as to Barrett’s earlier short stories and novels (see: https://www.andrea-barrett.com/biography). A compelling, complex concept of endurance, weaving together a rich body of work in new and altered ways.
This review is based solely on this new collection. Coming to Barrett fresh, having not read anything else she’s written, means Natural History can be read as a standalone. For new readers, a marvelous revelation when you figure out the commonalities. The aha moments take time to realize, whereas familiar readers will surely pick up on and be looking for the artful connections to previous books much sooner.
In Natural History, history is seen through characters, relationships, attachment to a place, and thematically, connecting fictional family histories spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. History is also part of the stories. Barrett is deft at mixing real and imaginary. She also emphasizes the importance of documenting history in terms of how life was experienced at a particular time.
In the cleverly crafted first story, “Wonders of the Shore,” Barrett has imbued her primary female protagonist – Miss Henrietta Atkins born in 1852 – with a lifelong dedication to biology as a high school biology teacher. You’ll read of former students who never forgot her. We know what that feels like, remembering a favorite teacher who made a difference in our lives. In Henrietta’s case, it’s appreciating the wonders of the natural world.
Opening with wondrous prose on the wonderment of the sea, Barrett sets the eloquent tone and intricate theme of the past and present converging:
Inviting us to read with an “observant eye,” it’s still easy to miss the subtle slipping in of the name of Henrietta’s relative, Rose Marburg. For those who haven’t read “The Marburg Sisters,” a 1994 story referred to in the author’s note, when we meet up with Rose again in the last story bearing the name of the collection, it hits us how skillfully the generational threads are pulled together. To make sure we don’t miss that, like the author apparently did in her 2007 novel The Air We Breathe in which she includes a genealogical family tree to stress how characters are linked to Ship Fever, she’s done the same for this new collection. A two-page, multi-family genealogical tree comes at the end to surprise, confirm, and clarify.
In the opening story, Henrietta’s closest friend, Miss Daphne Bannister, has invited her to spend a few summer weeks on Appledore Island. For those who know New England places, the island isn’t familiar so we think it’s fictional. Googling you’ll learn its real, located on the Isles of Shoals Archipelago.
Daphne is also a scientist, a wildlife expert on insects, wildflowers, plants, birds. She writes technical guidebooks and other nonfiction, one the title of the story supposedly published in 1889. Googling it appears not to exist. Yet another book cited, An Island Garden published around the same time, is real! Barrett teases and challenges. Continuing with the cottage the two women are staying at. Owned by Celia Thaxter, who was a poet and lived in a cottage with a lovely garden on property alongside what was then the Appledore House Hotel. Other guests in the story, friends of Celia’s, were historical figures who frequented this island artistic haven, to include painters William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam; and writers and poets National Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Robert Browning. Turns out Hassam actually illustrated Celia’s garden book with the recognizable painting “Celia Thaxter in Her Garden.”
Celia Thaxter in Her Garden, by Childe Hassam
via Manchester City Library on Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0]
The relationship between Henrietta and Daphne, both of whom chose singlehood, delicately raises the question as to whether their relationship was more than meets the eye since they’ve been vacationing together for many summers. The stronger impression, though, is of a professional, scientific relationship in which Daphne is seen as the overly ambitious one and Henrietta the kinder, warmer one. This judgment intensifies in the last, most recent story (2018) when Barrett makes the larger point (beyond women choosing marriage, motherhood, or singlehood) that women have made great scientific strides when they “find each other,” “stuck together,” and “made friends.”
Henrietta is featured in all the stories in one way or another. The setting changes to Upstate New York, where Henrietta lives. A common setting for the author who also lives in this region of the country.
Henrietta is selflessly devoted to others, whether it be to exemplifying how noble teaching as a profession is to nurturing curious young minds, or more broadly to the sacrifices women make as nurturers. Henrietta has been caring for her beloved sister Hester’s five children, all girls, over the years. Very involved with them, while Daphne is involved with herself. We greatly admire Henrietta; the jury has been out on Daphne early on when she treated Henrietta as second fiddle at Celia’s cottage. Female friendships are complicated and take work, seen in the closing story when Daphne appears at seventy-five and is still some part of Henrietta’s world.
In the second, poignant Regimental story Henrietta is ten, so the chronology isn’t straightforward. She’s working for a family that runs a pottery business. The husband has asked her to write letters to his two brothers, volunteers in the Union Army. Their regiment is stationed in northern Virginia, where many Civil War battles were fought. Again, unfamiliar history is woven in citing the use of observation balloons for reconnaissance. There actually was a Balloon Corps in the Civil War. But it’s the history of “hydro-aeroplanes,” a “dirigible engine,” in WWI and later the Hindenburg Disaster we know of. Interestingly, aviation appears in the fourth story “The Accident,” involving one of Henrietta’s nieces Caroline, another woman who chooses an unconventional career.
The other two stories, “Henrietta and her Moths” and “Open House,” deepen and enlarge interconnected themes on the natural world, science, and personal histories.
In writing about real history, Barrett shows the benefits and drawbacks of in-the-moment impressions when raw versus reflecting later within the larger context of history when memories over time can become “compressed and expanded.”
Warning about “stories tangled together,” these masterfully tangled stories will keep readers on their toes.
Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)
History from multiple perspectives. Barrett’s literary history includes recognition with MacArthur, Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships; finalist for the Pulitzer-Prize; and winning the National Book Award for Ship Fever, a short story collection published in 1996 that’s also being re-released along with this collection. Personally, she once wanted to be a scientist, so she’s channeled her passion for “scientific inquiry” and the natural world into her storytelling.
History also seen through generations of fictional characters and themes connected to each other in this new collection (Barrett acknowledges not all the stories are brand new, but they’ve been newly adapted), as well as to Barrett’s earlier short stories and novels (see: https://www.andrea-barrett.com/biography). A compelling, complex concept of endurance, weaving together a rich body of work in new and altered ways.
This review is based solely on this new collection. Coming to Barrett fresh, having not read anything else she’s written, means Natural History can be read as a standalone. For new readers, a marvelous revelation when you figure out the commonalities. The aha moments take time to realize, whereas familiar readers will surely pick up on and be looking for the artful connections to previous books much sooner.
In Natural History, history is seen through characters, relationships, attachment to a place, and thematically, connecting fictional family histories spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. History is also part of the stories. Barrett is deft at mixing real and imaginary. She also emphasizes the importance of documenting history in terms of how life was experienced at a particular time.
In the cleverly crafted first story, “Wonders of the Shore,” Barrett has imbued her primary female protagonist – Miss Henrietta Atkins born in 1852 – with a lifelong dedication to biology as a high school biology teacher. You’ll read of former students who never forgot her. We know what that feels like, remembering a favorite teacher who made a difference in our lives. In Henrietta’s case, it’s appreciating the wonders of the natural world.
Opening with wondrous prose on the wonderment of the sea, Barrett sets the eloquent tone and intricate theme of the past and present converging:
“The sea-shore, with its stretches of sandy beach and rocks, seems, at first, nothing but a barren waste, merely the natural barrier of the ocean. But to the observant eye these apparently desolate reaches are not only teeming with life, they are also replete with suggestions of the past. They are the pages of history full of fascination for one who has learned to read them.”
Inviting us to read with an “observant eye,” it’s still easy to miss the subtle slipping in of the name of Henrietta’s relative, Rose Marburg. For those who haven’t read “The Marburg Sisters,” a 1994 story referred to in the author’s note, when we meet up with Rose again in the last story bearing the name of the collection, it hits us how skillfully the generational threads are pulled together. To make sure we don’t miss that, like the author apparently did in her 2007 novel The Air We Breathe in which she includes a genealogical family tree to stress how characters are linked to Ship Fever, she’s done the same for this new collection. A two-page, multi-family genealogical tree comes at the end to surprise, confirm, and clarify.
In the opening story, Henrietta’s closest friend, Miss Daphne Bannister, has invited her to spend a few summer weeks on Appledore Island. For those who know New England places, the island isn’t familiar so we think it’s fictional. Googling you’ll learn its real, located on the Isles of Shoals Archipelago.
Daphne is also a scientist, a wildlife expert on insects, wildflowers, plants, birds. She writes technical guidebooks and other nonfiction, one the title of the story supposedly published in 1889. Googling it appears not to exist. Yet another book cited, An Island Garden published around the same time, is real! Barrett teases and challenges. Continuing with the cottage the two women are staying at. Owned by Celia Thaxter, who was a poet and lived in a cottage with a lovely garden on property alongside what was then the Appledore House Hotel. Other guests in the story, friends of Celia’s, were historical figures who frequented this island artistic haven, to include painters William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam; and writers and poets National Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Robert Browning. Turns out Hassam actually illustrated Celia’s garden book with the recognizable painting “Celia Thaxter in Her Garden.”
Celia Thaxter in Her Garden, by Childe Hassam
via Manchester City Library on Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0]
The relationship between Henrietta and Daphne, both of whom chose singlehood, delicately raises the question as to whether their relationship was more than meets the eye since they’ve been vacationing together for many summers. The stronger impression, though, is of a professional, scientific relationship in which Daphne is seen as the overly ambitious one and Henrietta the kinder, warmer one. This judgment intensifies in the last, most recent story (2018) when Barrett makes the larger point (beyond women choosing marriage, motherhood, or singlehood) that women have made great scientific strides when they “find each other,” “stuck together,” and “made friends.”
Henrietta is featured in all the stories in one way or another. The setting changes to Upstate New York, where Henrietta lives. A common setting for the author who also lives in this region of the country.
Henrietta is selflessly devoted to others, whether it be to exemplifying how noble teaching as a profession is to nurturing curious young minds, or more broadly to the sacrifices women make as nurturers. Henrietta has been caring for her beloved sister Hester’s five children, all girls, over the years. Very involved with them, while Daphne is involved with herself. We greatly admire Henrietta; the jury has been out on Daphne early on when she treated Henrietta as second fiddle at Celia’s cottage. Female friendships are complicated and take work, seen in the closing story when Daphne appears at seventy-five and is still some part of Henrietta’s world.
In the second, poignant Regimental story Henrietta is ten, so the chronology isn’t straightforward. She’s working for a family that runs a pottery business. The husband has asked her to write letters to his two brothers, volunteers in the Union Army. Their regiment is stationed in northern Virginia, where many Civil War battles were fought. Again, unfamiliar history is woven in citing the use of observation balloons for reconnaissance. There actually was a Balloon Corps in the Civil War. But it’s the history of “hydro-aeroplanes,” a “dirigible engine,” in WWI and later the Hindenburg Disaster we know of. Interestingly, aviation appears in the fourth story “The Accident,” involving one of Henrietta’s nieces Caroline, another woman who chooses an unconventional career.
The other two stories, “Henrietta and her Moths” and “Open House,” deepen and enlarge interconnected themes on the natural world, science, and personal histories.
In writing about real history, Barrett shows the benefits and drawbacks of in-the-moment impressions when raw versus reflecting later within the larger context of history when memories over time can become “compressed and expanded.”
Warning about “stories tangled together,” these masterfully tangled stories will keep readers on their toes.
Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)
July 2, 2024
As with any collection, I liked some of the stories in this book more than others. A couple of them seemed a little weak to me. But, the collection earns five stars from me on the strength of my favorite story.
Henrietta Atkins is a spinster in late nineteenth and early twentieth century New York State, in a small town in the Finger Lakes region. But she has a rich life as a teacher and naturalist. She writes articles for scientific journals, takes care of her mother in her old age, mentors many promising students, and helps her sister with her five daughters. In my favorite story, "Henrietta and her Moths." Henrietta has started a Young Lepidopterist Club. She and her young members seek worms, mate them in Henrietta's self-built laboratory, watch as they grow chrysalises and later hatch in their Henrietta-designed glass boxes. I loved the loving, detailed description of the lifecycles of butterflies and moths. I loved how Henrietta's enthusiasm sparks curiosity in her students. And I loved the depiction of a childhood spent in the woods searching for worms instead of in front of a screen all day.
Similar to Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, Henrietta appears in one way or another in all of the stories in the book. In some of the stories, Henrietta is a more minor character. One story takes place in late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, after Henrietta's death. Yet she lives even there, in the friendly rivalry between two naturalists (one of whom is an indirect descendant and is writing about about Henrietta) that echoes the relationship Henrietta had with fellow naturalist Daphne Bannister more than 100 years earlier.
Loved Henrietta as a character and loved this book. I will read more by this author.
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The Saint's Mistress
Henrietta Atkins is a spinster in late nineteenth and early twentieth century New York State, in a small town in the Finger Lakes region. But she has a rich life as a teacher and naturalist. She writes articles for scientific journals, takes care of her mother in her old age, mentors many promising students, and helps her sister with her five daughters. In my favorite story, "Henrietta and her Moths." Henrietta has started a Young Lepidopterist Club. She and her young members seek worms, mate them in Henrietta's self-built laboratory, watch as they grow chrysalises and later hatch in their Henrietta-designed glass boxes. I loved the loving, detailed description of the lifecycles of butterflies and moths. I loved how Henrietta's enthusiasm sparks curiosity in her students. And I loved the depiction of a childhood spent in the woods searching for worms instead of in front of a screen all day.
Similar to Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, Henrietta appears in one way or another in all of the stories in the book. In some of the stories, Henrietta is a more minor character. One story takes place in late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, after Henrietta's death. Yet she lives even there, in the friendly rivalry between two naturalists (one of whom is an indirect descendant and is writing about about Henrietta) that echoes the relationship Henrietta had with fellow naturalist Daphne Bannister more than 100 years earlier.
Loved Henrietta as a character and loved this book. I will read more by this author.
Like my reviews? Check out my blog
Author of
The Saint's Mistress
October 21, 2022
I first read Barrett when her book won a major prize: Ship Fever. Then the next, Servants of the Map. This was my first experience with recurring characters who had science lives. Voyage of the Narwhal next and I think I've read/listened to it at least 3 times. Recurring characters, full of science. My reading experience with recurring characters: Philip Roth, Grace Paley, the Rabbit books, etc. But this was science--exploration, discovery, women doing science.
This most recent collection was a disappointment only because I didn't refresh the characters.
I once read an article about her. going back maybe 30 years. Barrett had been wandering the open carts and shelves attached to bookstores. So she had wandered among the stacks and chose an old book about TB. This just blew me away at the time. My brain could not wrap around choosing an old book (1920s? 1910s?) and using it as the beginning of her own book about TB and places where people went to get cured. It's hard to describe how this affected me (and still does) and I am sorry all the indie and odd bookstores are mostly gone.
This most recent collection was a disappointment only because I didn't refresh the characters.
I once read an article about her. going back maybe 30 years. Barrett had been wandering the open carts and shelves attached to bookstores. So she had wandered among the stacks and chose an old book about TB. This just blew me away at the time. My brain could not wrap around choosing an old book (1920s? 1910s?) and using it as the beginning of her own book about TB and places where people went to get cured. It's hard to describe how this affected me (and still does) and I am sorry all the indie and odd bookstores are mostly gone.
January 16, 2023
Short stories about a woman and her family and friends, all connected by the natural sciences they are interested in. The two women support themselves by teaching and writing children’s books but would have been botanists in a different time period. Didn’t realize that the author wrote other books about these same characters. It was a little hard to keep track of all the people not having read them first.
November 29, 2023
I found Barrett’s second collection equally as beautiful but less compelling and absorbing than her first. Perhaps it is because all the figures in this collection are related or somehow know each other, while Ship Fever spans centuries and families. Nonetheless one of my favourite literary authors, Barrett’s stories ask us to think about the reliability of memory and how memory changes.
November 2, 2022
A beautiful depiction of how we present our lives to others, how trauma informs and shapes our choices. The loss of loved ones--especially ones who go missing--can alter our trajectories so easily. A gorgeous, self-reflective meditation on our humanity.
April 22, 2023
I thought these stories were so well-researched and with wild connections. I loved this book.
May 11, 2023
4.5 Beautifully written interconnected short stories.
June 24, 2023
Lost then found.
November 15, 2023
the first story was my favorite, but all were interesting in their own way. ladies collecting seaweed to mount and display is SUCH a strong opener to me specifically though
Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews