Miller's Valley: A Novel

Written by Anna Quindlen

Narrated by Brittany Pressley

A novel about family and the secrets that we keep—a young woman learning to love and leave home and realizing that, maybe, she never quite left. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Still Life with Bread Crumbs and Rise and Shine.

This story begins in the 1960s, and explores how Mimi Miller comes of age, over and over again.

As a young girl in Miller’s Valley, an ordinary farming town that may be facing its final days, Mimi is observing adults, selling corn, growing up and changing, and watching the world around her change, too.

As the years go by, the unthinkable starts to seem inevitable. Anna Quindlen’s novel takes us through the changing eras of Mimi and her family, as secrets are revealed, and the heartbreaks of growing up and falling in love with the wrong man are overcome.

A deeply moving, inspiring story of a young woman learning to love and leave, the place and family from which she comes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Apr 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491546291

Anna Quindlen

Anna Marie Quindlen is an author, journalist, and opinion columnist. Her New York Times column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992.

Reviews for Miller's Valley

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read all of Anna Quindlen's books and every time I read one, I say that its the best one yet. I think that this time....this book is the best one yet FOR SURE. From the first page, I was caught up in the coming of age story of Mimi. She lives on a farm in Miller's Valley with her two older brothers and parents. From the very first, we learn that the government plans to flood the valley for a recreation area and that plays a huge part in the story but the story is so much more than that. Its all about family dynamics - a brother in Vietnam, Mimi's first love, her plans for college, her friends and so much more. I loved the story but more than that I loved the main characters - they felt like people that I know in my day to day life - especially Mimi and her mother. During the book, I laughed with them and cried with them and now that the book is over, I miss them. This is a fantastic book - one that I won't soon forget. (I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review)

[maggieg13 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars I enjoyed this book. Mary Margaret Miller narrates her story which is centered around the state’s decision to permanently flood the farmland of Miller’s Valley. During the time since the government built a dam and redirected the river, the valley was flooding every few years anyway. Every flood would drive a few more families away, those who were not willing to rebuild and wait for the next flood. Mary Margaret, known as Mimi to her family and friend, has two older brothers, Eddie and Tommy. Eddie is a scholar and responsible person and Tommy is not. Mimi is very close to her father Buddy, a farmer who also works as a fix-it man to bring in extra money. He can fix anything. People just dropped their broken items off at his workshop on the farm with a note such as “Making whoosh sound” if he were out in the fields. Mom Miriam is an RN who works the evening shift at the hospital. It is her income which keeps the family going. She is a solid, stable, no-nonsense person with a very good instinct for judging human character. Aunt Ruth, Miriam’s younger sister, lives in the cottage in the back of the Miller home and never leaves it. Mimi takes her dinner meal to her, Miriam does her shopping and delivers Ruth’s groceries to her cottage. Mimi’s best friend LaRhonda is the only child of the owner of a successful diner in town. She is spoiled and pampered as well as willful. But Mimi feels she is a BFF. Her sleepovers at LaRhonda’s are a welcome diversion. Ms. Quindlen has created an interesting cast of characters in this story. They are so well written that the reader may feel that she/he is eavesdropping. The dynamics of Miller family life are very relatable, as are the dynamics of the friendship between LaRhonda and Mimi. We see how all these people develop over the years. In my opinion the author does a particularly excellent job with the girls’ friendship, Mimi’s interaction with her mother and with her siblings, particularly Tommy. I put this book down once for a short while. From about chapter 3, I was vested in these characters, particularly Mimi and Buddy. I learned to love some of the others later. Likely the reader will feel they have the story figured out because we all know that when the state decides to change the topography of an area, it will happen. But, Mimi’s life takes a couple of surprising turns and at the end, when she is cleaning out Aunt Ruth’s cottage and her own family home for the last time, Ruth drops a bomb from the grave so to speak. An interesting examination of the psychology of family and its inherent power struggles, as well as those of friendship and community. Definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys human dynamics. This is not an action story or a thriller.

[karieh_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first novel I read of Anna Quindlen’s was “Every Last One”. That book, the part in the book where everything changed forever just kneecapped me. I didn’t see it coming and the power of not only the actions but of the raw emotion was just astounding. Then I read “Still Life with Breadcrumbs” – which was a much quieter novel – but still was very powerful and a lovely book to read.“Miller’s Valley” did not have as much of an effect on me as either of those books. The story is good, the writing is well done, but there isn’t the same depth of either emotion or beauty that made those books stand out.Mary Margaret, or Mimi, Miller is the main character. The life she lives with her brothers, parents aunt on their farm seems a simple one, yet their home, the very existence of their hometown, is under a cloud of uncertainty. For what seems like her entire childhood, there is the looming threat that their valley will be flooded – either by Mother Nature or, more likely, by the government.As much as it is discussed, and as much as her life seems surrounded by this possibility, Mimi seems to care very little about what might happen. She doesn’t seem to have a great range or depth of emotions, really. She works hard, she takes care of her aunt, her father, her nephew – she gets nearly perfect grades – but the reader never gets to the heart of her. What drives her? She seems as if she wants to move on, to leave her past behind – but she also seems unsure as to what a new life would be like.There are times when “Miller’s Valley” has a moment of incredible tenderness – a line that catches me and that I have to savor, but not nearly as many as I would have liked.“My father thought for a moment. When my father was thinking it was like an aerobic exercise, like he was putting his whole body to the test.”And about the family farm: “A whole year passed in front of me on the farm. The cornstalks with yellow edges that means summer was over as the classroom was getting ready to close around you. The pumpkins of October that squatted where the yellow flowers sprouted on the vines in August. The mornings when you could hear the cattle complaining like a bunch of old men with tobacco throats and you knew, you just knew, that is was February and their water toughs were frozen solid and you were going to have to go out there with an old shovel and beat a hole into the ice until it fell apart like a broken window.”The few times I felt like I was truly seeing into Mimi’s soul were mostly when she was with or thinking about her brother Tommy, the black sheep of the family, Even though he is her older brother, Mimi takes after her mother in neither understanding nor being able to let go of the dream they have of him. “He sucked on a cigarette like it was oxygen. He had a skull tattooed on the back of his hand. Every time I looked at him something inside me felt jagged, like I’d swallowed a razor blade and just had to hold really still so it wouldn’t move around and slice my insides up.”THAT is the Anna Quindlen that can take my breath away – stop me for a moment because her words put me so deeply inside the soul of a character that I forget who I am and what I am doing.That is what I wanted more from in “Miller’s Valley”.

[cjservis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book a lot. Quindlen uses just the right voice to capture Mimi and immediately transports the reader to Miller's Valley. One can't help but care about the plight of this small town and its people.

[bogopea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's by Anna Quindlen, that's all you need to know. Her style of writing is wonderful and early on I felt connected to Mimi Miller and her family. She is a young teen at the beginning and her family are farm people struggling to get by in a small town that the government is trying to buy up, house by house, so they can flood it and create a reservoir. All sorts of underhandedness going on. Mimi is older than her years and can't imagine life anywhere except in the town named after her family - Miller's Valley. The book ends on a satisfying note with Mimi, about 60 years old, thinking about her life and how she lived it. We see her understanding and wisdom grow over the years, but remaining true to her family values.

[Tina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story of the Millers and small town was enlightening. The narration was perfect, heartfelt, sad, funny and so honest. I could really relate to folks living in a small town, some with big dreams, others with no dreams...

[castlelass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Protagonist Mimi Miller reflects on her life growing up on a farm in Pennsylvania in the 1960’s. Miller’s Valley is a rural community targeted by the government to be flooded and turned into a reservoir, which involves invoking eminent domain and removing people from homes their families have lived in for generations. Mimi relates her life as she matures, makes mistakes, and takes charge at home when needed at a great personal cost.

It is a contemplative, slow-paced story where the characters take center stage, particularly Mimi and her family members. This novel explores what makes a place feel like home, mother-daughter relationships, and how external factors can significantly change lives. Mimi is a likeable character and it is easy to root for her. She is trying to find her place in the world, even as she loses her childhood home. I enjoyed it, but the flow was choppy, almost as if it were too heavily edited, and one of her significant relationships is given only cursory coverage.

If you appreciate quiet novels about people, family, community, or life in a small town, you may enjoy this one.

[carriewuj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 Great generational story about identity and being tied to place. Mary Margaret (Mimi) Miller is the narrator of this tale that encompasses her family life growing up in the late 60s in Miller's Valley, PA. There are both internal family struggles - her middle brother Tommy can't find his way, heads to Vietnam, and is lost forever after to drugs and disillusion and her Aunt Ruth is agoraphobic and lives her life in a small house on the family farm, shrouded by secrets. Externally, the town is pestered by the government to sell out so they can redirect the river and leave Miller's Valley a "drowned town." The ties of friendship and family are portrayed beautifully through the conflicts - some want to stay and fight and others are quick to sell out and move on. The Millers' situation is complicated by their own family issues - Ruth won't/can't leave; so much energy goes to "saving" Tommy, and the father is a farmer on land owned by at least 3 generations. Where would he go? What could he do besides farm? The mother is a no-nonsense nurse, whose only weak spot is her black-sheep son. She encourages Mimi to "get out" of the Valley and with the help of an interested high school teacher, she goes away to college to become a doctor. But family ties and tragedies are a strong pull, so it doesn't go as smoothly as planned. "No one ever really leaves the town where they grew up....even if they go" Quindlen does a nice job creating realistic, authentic characters and situations, but the story felt a little disjointed -- I had to check a couple times if I had my player on "random" because the action seemed to skip around a bit. Worth reading overall.

[marciablnc · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was a sad story all the way through. Sisters didn't get along. The aunt wouldn't leave her house. The son' Tommy, was troubled. This was not my kind of a story. It was a sad ending with the valley being flooded.

[lmjenkins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I settled into this book like a comfortable chair. Mimi was such a natural and easy narrator that I feel sad that in order to hear her voice again, I'll have to re-read the book. There was a tragedy to her story and her world that was very subtle yet impactful. The material for tragedy was plentiful -- a beloved brother lost, an environment and home slowly drowning, a confusing family dynamic, poverty -- yet Mimi is no drama queen and does not wallow in sorrow. But it's there. And told to us beautifully in this novel.

[veeshee-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel is a slow but endearing read. Mary Margaret is a quiet character, who has a good heart and does what is right. The story deviates from the actual valley issues with the government and focuses more on the family dynamics of the Millers. I won't lie and tell you I was engrossed in the story the whole time; there were definitely some boring parts that could have been left out and sometimes I just wondered where everything was going. But it is a sweet novel about family ties and ambitious dreams, and about a girl learning to find her place in the world. If you like realistic fiction and affable main characters, then this book is definitely the right one for you!

[rodraglin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Miller's Valley entertaining and satisfying despite the incongruity of the endingMary Margaret Miller is a young girl growing up on a farm in Miller's Valley, a small community in rural America in the 1960's. There's nothing unusual about her family or her life: she has two older brothers - one's away at college, the other is a lovable rogue, her father works the farm, her mother is a nurse at the local hospital, an aunt lives in a small cottage on the farm.The only thing that makes Miller's Valley different from thousands of similar rural hamlets is the government has plans to raise a nearby dam and flood the valley displacing the few families who live there.This a theme that runs throughout the book looming over the lives of the Miller family though never really effecting them since there is no set timeline for the flooding.Through the point of view of Mary Margaret the reader comes to know a loving and, more or less, functioning family, their friends and neighbours living in middle America during this period.Quindlen is such a fine writer I was immediately drawn in. Her gift is that she makes the reader feel like they know, have known, or know someone just like her characters. Her prose is so seamless you don't realize you're reading a book - more like experiencing it.Unlike some of Quindlen's work that can leave you with PTSD (Every Last One, One True Thing, Black and Blue) nothing really dramatic happens in Miller's Valley. There's regular love, life and death but it's not agonizing, unimaginably violent or pathologically cruel. It's just your run of the mill stuff - strokes, abortions, infidelity, drug abuse - but it's balanced with love and real caring. Sound boring? It's not. Every time I sat down to read it was like catching up with a friend. I had no idea how Miller's Valley would end and apparently neither did the author, because what she implies in the last few pages is incongruous to the story that has come before. I simply could not believe it.Despite the rather bizarre ending, Miller's Valley is a satisfying and entertaining read.

[casualfriday_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I mostly loved this subdued, naturalistic coming of age story, set on a small farm in a hardscrabble town in Pennsylvania that is on the verge of being flooded by a dam project. The narrator and main character is Mimi, a plucky and intelligent kid whose no-nonsense mother Miriam wants her to leave the nest and make something of herself. The family also includes Tommy, charismatic but troubled, and Aunt Ruth, who is severely agoraphobic and who has a thorny relationship with her sister Miriam. I saw many echoes of my own family in this depiction, and I’m guessing I’m not alone. With due respect to Tolstoy, all families, happy, unhappy and in-between, share enough similarities that most of us can relate to a family tale. I really loved Miriam, an unsentimental person with a lot of insight that kids could not appreciate. My only quibble with the story is that there was a last-minute piece of melodramatic plotting that I could have lived without. I would rather have seen the interesting relationship between the two sisters fleshed out a bit more.

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not bad, but not her best. I found it this story to be a little bit too commercially appealing to Qunidlen's core demographic - middle aged American mothers. Also, the characters seemed not to have quite enough depth, and the story was all wrapped up a bit too neatly in the end. That said, it's still a cut above a lot of other work in this genre.

[girlwellread · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A special thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This moving story takes place in Miller's Valley, a small farming town that becomes another character in the book. Mary Margaret 'Mimi' Miller is the only daughter born to a farming family with two sons and an agoraphobic aunt that also lives on their property. Layer by layer, Quindlen tells Mimi's coming-of-age story through her family's drama.

One thing I would have liked fleshed out was the relationship between Mimi's mother and her sister (Mimi's aunt). There is a plot twist that touches on perhaps why they had a tumultuous relationship, but I felt like this didn't get enough time and development and could've really added to the story, especially in the beginning.

A slow burn. Like other reviewers, I found the novel hard to get into because of its pace. Quindlen is a gifted writer who takes her time developing characters and in this instance, the pace at which she does this, paid off. So stick with it, you will be glad you did.

[libraryclerk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this first book I have read by Anna Quindlen. A story of the dynamics of a family hiding family secrets and losing the family farm.

[carolfoisset · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am partial to Anna Q., used to read all of her essays in Newsweek. I enjoyed this read and felt that she did a good job of bringing her characters to life.

[c.archer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite kind of story. Rather than a thrilling or psychological read this is a straightforward character driven story about realistic, small town, ordinary people. I liked it even more because it was also a coming of age story. The characters range from likeable and engaging to irritating and infuriating. Ms. Quindlen portrays both successes and failures, but each feels genuine and deserving. There is mild tension throughout the book as the families of the valley struggle with the results of government intervention that came before, in poor planning and placement of "that damn dam", and now threatens the holdout residents of the valley with displacement so their land can become a reservoir to better control the resulting flooding and flow of the river. This struggle is always in the background of the story, but its real focus is on the people whose families have called this valley home for generations.I know that a book is going to really resonate with me when I begin to care about and relate to its people. I applauded and cheered for Mimi and most of her family. I cringed as I considered the lost opportunity that her boyfriend could cause for her. I wanted to cry at Mimi's disappointments and losses and the painful distance between her mother and her agoraphobic aunt. Ultimately, I was amazed, at the direction that Mimi's life takes and how her strength of character develops and drives her.I actually drug my feet finishing this book, but not for too long. I didn't want to say goodbye to this family, but was felt satisfied when I finally had to do so. Their story will linger with me for some time.I thank Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

[bblum_10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this lovely book while on safari in the Serengeti. Quindlen always writes good characters in everyday life and in this book Mimi comes of age learning about herself, the flooding of her valley home and ultimately family secrets. A good read.

[cariola_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed Miller's Crossing well enough, but it seemed a lot like other coming-of-age stories that I've read, most recently Tess Hadley's Clever Girl. Mimi Miller's family has owned and worked a dairy farm in the valley for generations, but now a developer wants to buy out all the residents and flood the valley to create a recreation zone. Mimi's mother is a nurse, her father a hardworking farming and fix-it man; one older brother, Ed, has left town for marriage and a business career, and the other, Tommy, his mother's favorite and a chick magnet--well, Tommy seems to be heading in the wrong direction. Her mother's never-married sister, Ruth, who suffers from agoraphobia, lives in a smaller house on the property. As for Mimi, she's at a crossroads. Her best friend, Donald, moved away when his mother remarried, and her other sort-of friend, LaRhonda, found Jesus and sorority life simultaneously (neither of which agrees with Mimi). As the end of high school looms, Mimi has to make a decision: to go away to college, to marry considerably her older boyfriend, or to stay home and help with the family farm.Quindlen has created fairly interesting characters, even though the situation sounds familiar. She does throw in a number of rather unexpected turns towards the end. In one way, these seemed stuck in, but in another, they echo Mimi's maturing understanding of life, of others, and of herself. While I wasn't stunned by this Miller's Valley, it kept my interest. Recommended for those who enjoy coming-of-age stories.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A touching book about a family and the meaning of home. I particularly enjoyed the straightforward style, the character development which made you know and understand each person, the soothing cadence of the story's progression. You came to understand the below the surface tension between the sisters and the unreasonable love a mother can have for her wild child. I liked the way we were given no clear reasons for the family dynamics. The mysteries were left mysteries to ponder.This is the first book by Anne Quindlen I have read. It will not be the last. A master storyteller of the things we all have in common.

[karconner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book from Random House.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from Anna Quindlen. To me, it is a quiet book- one that is not packed with action and twists and turns but instead a subtle development of characters that kept me connected and interested. Having grown up in a small mountain town near the coalfields of WV and worked next to a mine, the quiet nature of Miller's valley with the underlying tension of the water felt familiar.

I enjoyed seeing Mimi grow up and come to understand the virtues and faults of humans. The letter I received with this novel called it an "intimate" novel, and I wholeheartedly agree. I learned to like and dislike characters as I discovered their personalities. I felt as if Mimi had been my childhood friend, and I felt as if I knew Miller's Valley personally.

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have read many books by Anna Quindlen and was a loyal reader when she was at Newsweek. This was the least impressive of all of her novels. The story told from a 1st person perspective looking book 50 years was about living in a flood prone area targeted by the government for flooding. This required relocating the residents. This is the background for the book. It has the usual cast of characters such as the stubborn mom, hardworking Dad who won't leave the home, bad boy brother. Mimi, the lead character is almost too perfect. The book does a good job of showing the changing culture that occurred in the late 60's and early 70's. The take on abortion was well done. However, the book was flat. I do have trouble with 1st person narrative and lots of characters. It only works if the narrator is a complex interesting character. Mimi wasn't quite there. I recommend reading earlier fiction by Quindlen before you consider this one.

[livelylady · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful story of the life of Mimi, first as a young girl being raised on a farm in a valley and then as she grows up. Nothing stays the same. Such good character development! I didn't want the book to end. I think it is Anna Quindlen at her best. Maybe she has gotten wiser with age....just like the main character!

[dissed1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Miller’s Valley, by Anna Quindlen, is a quiet gem, exploring family relations, attachment to home and the ways in which life actually doesn’t change us, as much as we might like to think. I enjoyed reading this novel immensely. It felt like Quindlen understood where her characters were coming from and that they were solidly based in reality. Her handling of the human experience, especially when we feel threatened, is deft. As a reader, I never questioned the motivations of any of Quindlen’s characters. They respond to and revolve around one another like every family you’ve ever met. Additionally, the plotting is strong. Throughout, the reader fears the eventual flooding of the valley, forgetting to keep an eye out for dangers more imminent, that provide the dramatic twists in the story. At the conclusion, one is left with a luminous, somewhat haunting image. One that satisfies and offers insight into what is important in life and the choices we make. Highly recommended.

[loried_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked, but did not love, Miller's Valley. As with the book Cascade, I was intrigued by the idea of a town being flooded, but, once again, I wish there was more about the flooding and its implications. I thought this was an interesting family saga with some interesting events representative of the time-frame, but the ending was not very satisfying, with some of the big mysteries left unresolved. Maybe that's what real life is all about, but I would have liked more. I found the end of the book rushed and leaving me wanting more. Since the book is relatively short, I think the author could have gone into more detail about Mimi's adult life.I think there are many issues raised in the book that would make it a good choice for a book discussion group.

[kris_anderson-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Miller’s Valley by Anna Quindlen is told from Mary Margaret’s (Mimi) point of view. Mimi is a young girl growing up in Miller’s Valley where the government wants to move everyone out the valley (where it floods the homes when it rains) and flood it creating a reservoir. We get to see how Mimi grew up, her family, and her home life (the book starts when she is eleven years old). Mimi’s Aunt Ruth lives in a cottage behind the main farmhouse. Aunt Ruth never leaves her cottage. She does not do cooking and expects meals to be brought to her. She also has to have someone do the shopping. Mimi’s mother, Miriam is a nurse and her father, Buddy runs the family farm. Her brother, Tommy goes off to fight in the Vietnam War and returns a different man. We get to see Mimi grow up in Miller’s Valley, live her life, go to school, get married, and then, ultimately, come back to Miller’s Valley.I thought Miller’s Valley would be more than the life of one girl growing up in a small town. I found Miller’s Valley to be boring. The story is told in the first-person perspective (which I really dislike). It was more like reading a diary than a novel. I had a very hard time staying awake to read it. There is no depth to the book. The book is simple and easy to read, but there is no spark. This book does not leave with any impression when you are done reading it (except glad it is over). I give Miller’s Valley 2.5 out of 5 stars. I received a complimentary copy of Miller’s Valley from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of the novel.

[kdabra4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's been two years since reading a novel by the extraordinary Anna Quindlen. I have turned to her non-fiction works to satisfy my Quindlen cravings in between publications of her novels. So reading Miller's Valley, I kept thinking, Where does she come up with these great story lines and wonderful characterizations? I think most authors learn to "write what you know;" so if that is true, how does this city girl/journalist/novelist know about life on a farm, the engineering of a dam that the government would one day want to redirect, and the medical profession? How does she make me feel like those who populate her stories are real people, when of course they are not? She continues to amaze me every time she puts pen to paper. This one does not disappoint.

[burnit99 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anna Quindlen has long been one of my favorite writers. I also love her nonfiction and essays, and I miss her weekly contribution to Newsweek. This novel covers Mimi Miller and her family, who have lived and farmed in Miller's Valley for many generations. Now, however, the spectre of the valley's eventual obliteration looms in the future as various government authorities slowly plan to flood the valley for a recreational paradise. Mimi's mother is the family matriarch who struggles to maintain her family through her son's transformation after Vietnam, her husband's transformation after a stroke, her sister's transformation into a homebound agoraphobe after an unknown trauma, and the ever-growing spectre of her home being wiped from the face of the earth. Mimi herself is an intelligent young woman with hidden strengths who comes to realize that home and family may spring from a single location, but do not disappear even though the starting point may cease to exist.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anna Quindlen's books are always something I want to read and once again, this one was NOT a disappointment!