Hannah Coulter A Novel

by Berry, Wendell

• ISBN13: 9781593760786
• ISBN10: 1593760787
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-30
• Publisher: PUBLISHERS GROUP WEST

Summary

In the latest installment in Wendell Berry's long story about the citizens of Port William, Hannah Coulter remembers. Her first husband, Virgil, was declared "missing in action" shortly after the Battle of the Bulge, and after she married Nathan Coulter about all he could tell Hannah about the Battle of Okinawa was "Ignorant boys, killing each other." The community was stunned and diminished by the war, with some of its sons lost forever and others returning home determined to carry on. Now, in her late seventies, twice-widowed and alone, Hannah sorts through her memories: of her childhood, of young love and loss, of raising children and the changing seasons. She turns her plain gaze to a community facing its long deterioration, where, she says, "We feel the old fabric torn, pulling apart, and we know how much we have loved each other." Hannah offers her summation: her stories and her gratitude, for the membership in Port William, and for her whole life, a part of the great continuum of love and memory, grief and strength. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Author of over forty books of fiction, poetry, and essays, including Citizenship Papers, Wendell Berry has farmed a hillside in his native Henry County, Kentucky, for over thirty years. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the T. S. Eliot Award, the Aiken Taylor Award for poetry, and the John Hay Award of the Orion Society

Table of Contents

Part One
1. The Story Continuing	3	(3)
2. A Steadman	6	(10)
3. The Future Shining Before Us	16	(4)
4. Virgil	20	(12)
5. What We Were	32	(9)
6. One of the Feltners, a Member of Port William	41	(8)
7. "Missing"	49	(12)
Part Two
8. Nathan	61	(12)
9. Generosity	73	(8)
10. Our Place	81	(10)
11. The Membership	91	(5)
12. Burley	96	(6)
13. Ivy	102	(3)
14. The Room of Love	105	(6)
15. A Better Chance	111	(10)
16. M.B. Coulter	121	(5)
17. Caleb	126	(9)
18. Margaret	135	(11)
19. The Branches	146	(11)
Part Three
20. The Living	157	(10)
21. Okinawa	167	(7)
22. Next?	174	(7)
23. Virge	181	(5)
24. Given	186	(3)
Acknowledgments	189	(3)
Map of Port William	192	(2)
Genealogy of Port William	194