When the World Was Young: A Novel

When the World Was Young: A Novel

Wally Baker is no ordinary girl. Living in her grandparentsâ€™ Brooklyn Heights brownstone, she doesnâ€™t like dresses, needlepoint, or manners. Her love of Wonder Woman comics and ants makes her feel like a misfitâ€”especially in the shadow of her dazzling but unstable mother, Stella.
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Acclaimed author Elizabeth Gaffneyâ€™s irresistible novel captures postwar Brooklyn through Wallyâ€™s eyes, opening on V-J day, as she grows up with the rest of America. Reeling from her own unexpected wartime tragedy and navigating an increasingly fraught landscape, Wally is forced to confront painful truths about the worldâ€”its sorrows, its prejudices, its conflicts, its limitations. But Wally also finds hope and strength in the unlikeliest places.
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With an unforgettable cast of characters, including the increasingly distant and distracted Stella; Loretta, the familyâ€™s black maid and Wallyâ€™s second mother; Ham, Lorettaâ€™s son, who shares Wallyâ€™s enthusiasm for ants and exploration; Rudy, Wallyâ€™s father, a naval officer, away serving in the Pacific; and Mr. Niederman, the familyâ€™s boarder, who never seems to answer Wallyâ€™s questionsâ€”and who she suspects may have something to hideâ€”Elizabeth Gaffney crafts an immersive, beautifully realized novel about the truths that divide and the love that keeps us together.
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Praise for When the World Was Young
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â€œElizabeth Gaffneyâ€™s wonderful, richly imagined novel When the World Was Young cheers the power and resilience of a society-bucking young woman.â€â€”Vanity Fair
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â€œGaffneyâ€™s heroines are brave and flawed (in a good way).â€â€”Marie Claire
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â€œ[A] smart, sensitive historical novel . . . driven by fast-paced storytelling.â€â€”O: The Oprah Magazine
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â€œDevastating and compelling.â€â€”Elle
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â€œRichly textured . . . Gaffney transports us.â€â€”Readerâ€™s Digest
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â€œLyrical.â€â€”New York Post
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â€œGaffney provides a lovingly told story of a time and a place and a house New Yorkers will recognize, if only in the mindâ€™s eye.â€â€”New York Daily News
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â€œA riveting coming-of-age story . . . a mesmerizing tale.â€â€”Historical Novels Review
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â€œA charming and incisive tale . . . profound.â€â€”Booklist
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â€œ[A] layered, delicate novel.â€â€”Publishers Weekly
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â€œA smart coming-of-age tale . . . lively . . . world-wise.â€â€”Kirkus Reviews
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â€œThis compelling family drama features an intriguing cast of characters who are well drawn and realistic, while also being emblematic of their time. Gaffneyâ€™s writing is graceful and leisurely paced, flavored with nostalgia.â€â€”Library Journal

â€œIn this beautifully written novelâ€”an honest and irresistible ride through postâ€“World War II America in all its glory and its shameâ€”Elizabeth Gaffney explores mothers and daughters, upstairs and downstairs, loveless marriages and passionate affairs, without ever losing her story or the fabulous characters that inhabit it.â€â€”B. A. Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2014-08-05
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2014-08-05
Format	Kindle eBook

When the World Was Young: A Novel

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