The Picture Makers

As characters retell past events and describe the relationships that give meaning to their lives, they create a vivid and touching account of one family's growth and change in this novel by the author of First Light. Various members of the Glass family speak in turn; they fill in the gaps in others' stories and reveal their own philosophies and emotions in distinctive voices. The relationship between Eleanor, a middle-aged artist, and her father, Henry, a South Carolina peach farmer, is explored through reminiscences about Eleanor's childhood and first marriage, and also through her parents' memories of their early years together and their life plans, now greatly altered. Feeling that she is losing the creative center of her life, Eleanor leaves Atlanta and her second husband, and endures a lonely, introspective stay in New York. With a new perspective, she realizes her family's importance to her, as well as her own self-worth. As the seven leading characters speak of their relationships, joys and tragedies, the Glass family gains warmth, complexity and appeal. (July)