Feather Crowns

**FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

From prize-winning author Bobbie Ann Mason, a brilliantly wrought novel about the first woman to give birth to quintuplets in early 1900s America.

Setin the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900--a time when many Americans were lookingfor signs foretelling the end of the world--Feather Crowns is thestory of a young woman who unintentionally creates a national sensation. A farmwife living near the small town of Hopewell, Kentucky, Christianna Wheelergives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North America.

Christieis suddenly thrown into a swirling storm of public attention. Hundreds ofstrangers descend on her home, all wanting to see and touch the "miraclebabies." The fate of the babies and the bizarre events that follow theirbirths propel Christie and her husband far from home, on a journey that exposesthem to the turbulent pageant of life at the beginning of the modern era.

Richlydetailed and poignant, Feather Crowns focuses on one woman butopens out ultimately into the chronicle of a time and a people. Written inBobbie Ann Mason's taut yet lyrical prose, the novel ranges from a peacefulfarming community to a fire-and-brimstone revival camp, from traveling shows tothe the nation's capital. Moving through the center of it all is Christie, acharming, headstrong, loving woman who struggles heroically to come to termswith the extraordinary events of her long life.

Feather Crowns is an American parable of profoundresonance. Spellbindingly readable, it is a novel of classic stature thatconfirmed Bobbie Ann Mason as one of America's most important writers.