Feather Crowns: A Novel

Written by Bobbie Ann Mason

Narrated by Kate Udall

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

From prize-winning author Bobbie Ann Mason, a brilliantly wrought novel about the first woman to give birth to quintuplets in early 1900s America.

Set in the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900—a time when many Americans were looking for signs foretelling the end of the world—Feather Crowns is the story of a young woman who unintentionally creates a national sensation. A farm wife living near the small town of Hopewell, Kentucky, Christianna Wheeler gives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North America.

Christie is suddenly thrown into a swirling storm of public attention. Hundreds of strangers descend on her home, all wanting to see and touch the ""miracle babies."" The fate of the babies and the bizarre events that follow their births propel Christie and her husband far from home, on a journey that exposes them to the turbulent pageant of life at the beginning of the modern era.

Richly detailed and poignant, Feather Crowns focuses on one woman but opens out ultimately into the chronicle of a time and a people. Written in Bobbie Ann Mason's taut yet lyrical prose, the novel ranges from a peaceful farming community to a fire-and-brimstone revival camp, from traveling shows to the the nation's capital. Moving through the center of it all is Christie, a charming, headstrong, loving woman who struggles heroically to come to terms with the extraordinary events of her long life.

Feather Crowns is an American parable of profound resonance. Spellbindingly readable, it is a novel of classic stature that confirmed Bobbie Ann Mason as one of America's most important writers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063021877

Bobbie Ann Mason

Bobbie Ann Mason is the author of a number of works of fiction, including The Girl in the Blue Beret, In Country, An Atomic Romance, and Nancy Culpepper. The groundbreaking Shiloh and Other Stories won the PEN Hemingway Award and was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Book Award, and the PEN Faulkner Award. Her memoir, Clear Springs, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won two Southern Book Awards and numerous other prizes, including the O. Henry and the Pushcart. Former writer-in-residence at the University of Kentucky, she lives in Kentucky.

Reviews for Feather Crowns

[thea5block · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I did not enjoy the majority of this book. It moved slow, which I can handle in some books, but this book never picked up the pace. I felt like the story lacked a good arc, and I finished the book feeling less than satisfied. I did appreciate the end of the story - the connections that Christie Wheeler makes with other families, but other than that, I would not recommend this book.

[anesamiller · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This ambitiously historical novel differs from Mason's other books. Although the geographical setting is, again, rural Kentucky, her cast of down-home folks is transposed from the K-Marts of 1988 to "the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900" (as the book jacket puts it). So the characters of FEATHER CROWNS might be the ancestors to those of Mason's other fiction, a thought that I enjoyed recalling in the course of reading.

Those who enjoy period details and forays into social history will be in their element here: food, clothing, chores, crops, and other details of farm life are portrayed extensively. We get insider views of tent revivals, the vaudeville and medicine show circuits, as well as everyday manners and behavior. Against this backdrop, Mason unfolds the story of a farm wife who gives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North American history (based in part on actual events). The young family find themselves overwhelmed by the fascination that surrounds this phenomenon. It proves impossible to care for so many young children while the popular will demands sensational display.

In spite of the intrinsic interest of these topics, I found the novel unfocused. Mason seemed determined to tell me something of great import, but aside from the typical failings of human nature and/or of the capitalist system, I remained unsure what the message should be. Many will no doubt disagree with me, but I much prefer this author's short stories and contemporary settings.

[turtlesleap · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In rural Kentucky, a young farm wife unexpectedly gives birth to quintuplets. Surrounded first by friends and family and, increasingly by intrusive strangers bent on "getting a look" at the babies, the young mother struggles to cope with a world that is rapidly moving outside her experience. How she deals with this, and the tragedies that beset her throughout her life, is the unfolding story. Mason has perfectly captured the time, place and circumstance of this story. Expect the first third of the book to be taken up with an astonishingly detailed (and sometimes tedious) account of the babies' first days.

[picardyrose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Premature babies and sideshows. Very touching.

[bookheaven_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Became totally attached to the characters.