"A book that should join those few that every literate person will have to read." THE BOSTON GLOBE Pearl Tull is nearing the end of her life but not her memory. Ever since 1944 when her husband left her, she has raised her three very different children on her own. Now grown, they have gathered together--with anger, with hope, and with a beautiful, harsh, and dazzling story to tell.... "From the Paperback edition."