For readers of Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, and Claire Lombardo,
Chorus shepherds seven siblings through two life-altering
events--their mother's untimely death, and a shocking teenage
pregnancy--that ultimately follow them through their lives as
individuals and as a family
The seven Shaw siblings have long been haunted by two early and
profoundly consequential events. Told in turns from the early twentieth
century through the 1950s, each sibling relays their own version of the
memories that surround both their mother's mysterious death and the
circumstances of one sister's scandalous teenage pregnancy. As they move
into adulthood, the siblings assume new roles: caretaker to their aging
father, addict, enabler, academic, decorated veteran, widow, and mothers
and fathers to the next generation.
Entangled in a family knot, the Shaw siblings face divorce, drama, and
death while haunted by a mother who was never truly there. Through this
lens, they all seek not only to understand how her death shaped their
family, but also to illuminate the insoluble nature of the many familial
experiences we all encounter--the concept of home, the tenacity that is
a family's love, and the unexpected ways through which healing can
occur.
Chorus is a hopeful story of family, of loss and recovery, of
complicated relationships forged between brothers and sisters as they
move through life together, and of the unlikely forces that first drive
them away and then ultimately back home.
