We Were the Mulvaneys

We Were the MulvaneysBy Joyce Carol Oates Paperback A New York Times Notable Book The Mulvaneys are blessed by all that makes life sweet. But something happens on Valentines Day, 1976an incident that is hushed up in the town and never spoken of in the Mulvaney homethat rends the fabric of their family life with tragic consequences. Years later, the youngest son attempts to piece together the fragments of the Mulvaneys former glory, seeking to uncover and understand the

By Joyce Carol Oates 

Paperback 

A New York Times Notable Book

The Mulvaneys are blessed by all that makes life sweet. But something happens on Valentine’s Day, 1976—an incident that is hushed up in the town and never spoken of in the Mulvaney home—that rends the fabric of their family life...with tragic consequences. Years later, the youngest son attempts to piece together the fragments of the Mulvaneys’ former glory, seeking to uncover and understand the secret violation that brought about the family’s tragic downfall.

Profoundly cathartic, this extraordinary novel unfolds as if Oates, in plumbing the darkness of the human spirit, has come upon a source of light at its core. Moving away from the dark tone of her more recent masterpieces, Joyce Carol Oates turns the tale of a family struggling to cope with its fall from grace into a deeply moving and unforgettable account of the vigor of hope and the power of love to prevail over suffering.