Rebellion
A Novel
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
"Molly Patterson is a writer of the first order, and her debut novel is a revelatory, immersive miracle. Ambitious in scope and exacting in its language, Rebellion becomes a grand exploration of fate and circumstance."—Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus
Reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout and Jane Smiley, Rebellion is a powerful debut novel by Molly Patterson, weaving together the stories of four women unafraid to challenge the boundaries of their lives, spanning generations and taking readers across the globe.
In 1890, a young missionary, Addie, has traveled to the town of Lu-cho Fu with her husband, dreaming of making her mark on the world. But Addie’s desires change after meeting a brash and thoroughly modern woman, Poppy, who offers to transform Addie’s destiny. All the while, letters from Addie reach her sister Louisa back home, recently married and struggling with the quiet isolation of being a farmer’s wife. When violence erupts overseas between the Chinese and their unwelcome Christian intruders, Addie’s life takes a mysterious and haunting turn strongly felt by her sister, Louisa, back home.
By 1958, Louisa’s daughter Hazel is fighting to maintain control of her land and family in the aftermath of her husband’s untimely death. Reeling from the tragedy, she finds herself drawing closer to the neighboring Hughes family and in the process learns that grief takes on many forms.
One hundred years after Addie’s disappearance, Juanlan returns to her hometown with no job and no options. She finds her father ailing and her pregnant sister-in-law restless and angry. While her family and town are rapidly changing, Juanlan feels frozen in place. In search of an outlet for the live wire she feels buried inside, she starts up a love affair with a married man.
Interconnected by action and consequence, each woman’s tale brilliantly displays the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligation of family, and the dramatic consequence of charting your own destiny. A vibrant story of compassion and discovery set against a century of complicated relations between China and America, Rebellion celebrates those who fight against expectation in pursuit of their own thrilling fate, and introduces a rising literary star.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Three strong women and their acts of rebellion in disparate circumstances are intriguingly connected in this vividly rendered, impressive debut. Addie, an American missionary in China in the latter part of the 19th century, leaves her husband and children and the confines of a restrictive enclave to venture into the more remote parts of the country with a widowed missionary with whom she has become enamored. Addie's niece, Hazel, whom we first meet as a feisty senior in 1999, driving the car that her adult children took the keys from, has had a tough life since she became the widowed mother of two children in the 1950s. She asserts her independence by maintaining ownership of her farm and unexpectedly develops an illicit relationship with her neighbor's husband, while maintaining a connection to the man's wife. Juanlan, a 1998 college graduate with no job prospects, returns to the small Chinese town where she was born to help with the family-owned hotel. She ends up having an affair with a married, politically connected older man whom her brother introduces her to with the hope that he will give their parents official permission to open up their hotel to foreigners. We see each woman interacting with family and friends, navigating the diverse challenges she faces, achieving a hard-won sense of self worth. Most remarkable is the subtle way Patterson ties all three lives together.
