San Miguel

<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER - A <i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>NOTABLE BOOK - A lyrical and intimate novel following two families as they struggle to heal from the award-winning author of <i>The Tortilla Curtain</i></b><br><b> </b><br><b>Boyle portrays the heartbreaking toll San Miguel takes on these couples in a novel as beguiling as the island itself.--<i>O The Oprah Magazine</i></b> <p/>Just off the coast of Southern California two families--one in the late 1880s and one in the 1930s--come to desolate windswept San Miguel Island in search of self-reliance freedom and a new start in their lives. <p/>In failing health Marantha Waters arrives with her husband a stubborn Civil War veteran who plans to take over the island's sheep ranch. Some forty years later Elise Lester settles the island with her husband a World War I veteran full of manic energy. Both Marantha and Elise strive to help their husbands pursue their dreams but must themselves grapple with the more nebulous hardships of raising a family in brutal isolation.