At B&N Reads Hanna McGrath tagged
five top novels that really represent the ins and outs of large families, including:
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis (11 kids)
As a teenager in 1923, Hattie Shepard fled Georgia in search of a better life in Philadelphia. What Hattie finds, though, is far from what she’s looking for, and it turns her into a brash and cold mother bent on preparing her children to live in a loveless and cruel world. Hattie’s tribes consist of her eleven children and one granddaughter, and it’s through those tribes that her story unfolds. Each chapter is a focused narrative of one family member, each adding another piece to their family’s puzzle. While the novel’s form is unusual, isn’t this how families (of any size) work? Each tribesman’s story informs/influences the story of the group as a whole.
Read about
another entry on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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