Cover of Caroline's Daughters

Caroline's Daughters

"Alice Adams writes with beautiful economy, an infallible sense of the telling detail—she can reveal more in a few sentences than most writers do in a bulgingly over-fed chapter." —San Francisco Chronicle

Read more

Once again, Alice Adams demonstrates her mastery of the family maze, her astonishing perception of the delicate and complex threads that bind us to one another.

Caroline Carter, "almost rich and almost old," has five daughters from three marriages. As she assesses exactly what it means to be a mother to adult daughters, we follow them over the course of a year, in relation to their husbands and lovers. We see their deceptions, pleasures, triumphs, and setbacks. And we watch Caroline, as her own life changes irrevocably.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 307 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Caroline's Daughters? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Caroline's Daughters. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Think of England: A Novel Shares book lust, fiction, nancy pearl’s book lust
  2. Hilda and Pearl: A Novel Shares book lust, fiction, nancy pearl’s book lust
  3. Beaming Sonny Home Shares book lust, fiction, nancy pearl’s book lust
  4. Harry and Catherine: A Love Story Shares book lust, fiction, nancy pearl’s book lust

“People who read Caroline's Daughters tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Half a Heart
  2. At Weddings and Wakes
  3. A Midwife Crisis
  4. Risky Business

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. Free onlineFree McTeague
  2. Blue Shoe
  3. A Working Theory of Love
  4. Going To See the Elephant

“If it was the book lust that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The American Ambassador
  2. Closing Arguments
  3. The Chin Kiss King
  4. Kill Your Darlings

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Threads of Grace
  2. Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft
  3. Deceived
  4. Circling My Mother: A Memoir