Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

295

Date

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Major

English

Concentration

Creative Writing

Committee Chair

Cary Holladay

Committee Member

Gene A. Plunka

Committee Member

Richard C. Bausch

Abstract

This novel closely examines the relationship between mothers and daughters through the prism of the Keller women, their olive grove, and their Northern California town. The youngest, Erin, arrives home carrying the child of her married lover. Her only objective is getting her mother, Deborah, paroled before the birth of the child. Deborah, in prison for killing her husband, has not spoken to her own mother, Calliope, in the twenty years she’s been incarcerated. Calliope, who lost her faith in a plane accident and gained an addiction to painkillers, struggles to overcome her disconnect and embrace an unlikely love, despite the disapproval of Bets, her mother. Bets can’t admit to anyone, least of all her mother, Anna, that she’s tired of living and afraid that the truth about her husband and their marriage will be kill them both. Anna instinctively understands there are great unresolved questions about her past, but chooses to focus on living long enough to become the oldest person in the world

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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