Gain braids together two stories on very different scales.
In one, Laura Body, divorced mother of two and a real-estate agent in the small town of Lacewood, Illinois, plunges into a new existence when she learns that she has ovarian cancer.
In the other, Clare & Company, a soap manufacturer begun by three brothers in nineteenth-century Boston, grows over the course of a century and a half into an international consumer products conglomerate based in Laura's hometown.
Clare's stunning growth reflects the kaleidoscopic history of America; Laura Body's life is changed forever by Clare.
The novel's stunning conclusion reveals the countless invisible connections between the largest enterprises and the smallest lives.
About the Author: RICHARD POWERS is the author of ten novels, including his most recent title, Generosity.
The Echo Maker won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Powers has received a Mac Arthur Fellowship and a Lannan Literary Award.
He lives in Illinois.
| Author | Richard |
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St. Martin's Press Gain, paperback/richard powers
