Lissa Evans has written books for both adults and children, including Their Finest Hour and a Half, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Crooked Heart was also longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize); it is her first novel to be published in the US. Evans lives in London with her family.At LitHub she tagged six novels from other eras that "feature women (and in one case a small girl) from other eras who don’t do what they’re supposed to do," including:
The Shipping News, Annie ProulxRead about another entry on the list.
Agnis Hamm, known throughout most of the book as The Aunt, is not the main character in this novel, but instead the steadysidekick, the battery that drives the plot. Born into poverty in Newfoundland and suffering an unspeakable childhood, she has carved out a life in which she has made all her own choices, finding both a skilled career and true love. When her adored partner dies, The Aunt decides to return to the place where she spent her childhood, taking her nephew and his broken family with her. She is dry, fierce and magnificent, and is one of my favourite characters in 20th century fiction.
The Shipping News appears on David Vann's six favorite books list, Rachel Seiffert's top ten list of books about troubled families, RJ Ellory's five best list of human dramas, Elise Valmorbida's list of top ten books with a happy ending, and John Mullan's list of ten of the best fishing trips.
--Marshal Zeringue
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