A Lifetime in Miller’s Valley

In her latest novel, Miller’s Valley, Anna Quindlen weaves the tale of a family living deep in a valley about to be flooded for the expansion of a dam, a federal project that is supposed to bring “progress” to long-time valley residents

 

But they don’t concur.  These families mount a resolute, yet futile attempt to block the plan of government experts at public meeting after public meeting.  

Despite all this resistance, bureaucrats persevere to do their best in trying to persuade valley residents as to how relocating their families upstream and flooding their homes and memories deep under rising waters constitutes progress.

The plot revolves principally around one particular family as it deals not only with its struggles with the feds, but also with the interpersonal dynamics of expectations, success, and heartbreak.

One tripartite relationship within the Miller family eventually leads to a surprise revelation.  It is one in which Mary Margaret Miller, the narrator of this novel, discovers something quite unexpectedly in the attic of her aunt, but only after the waters of the new dam project have begun to rise slowly around it.

There are many other compelling and complex relationships which grow and change as the characters mature and move on to the next phases of their lives.

The surprises within this book is that there really are none – the family and friends of Mary Margaret Miller are much more normal than most of us might wish to acknowledge.