Natural History
Book description
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…
Why read it?
1 author picked Natural History as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
These are thoughtfully observed, multi-generational stories about people obsessed with science while negotiating relationships and their place in the world. I’ve met some of them in Barrett’s previous books.
Much of the action happens in upstate New York, by the lake where my grandparents had a cottage. One major character, Henrietta Atkins, is first seen as a ten-year-old during the Civil War. She becomes a science teacher who studies moths, helps her sister’s family, and tries to find her place among the natural historians of her day.
A family tree helps keep track of the characters over a century and…
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