Finalist for the Story PrizeLonglisted for the Carol Shields Prize for FictionA BookPage and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the YearA masterful collection of interconnected stories from the "genius enchantress" (Karen Russell) author of Ship Fever, winner of the National Book Award.In Natural History, Andrea Barrett completes the beautiful arc of intertwined lives of a family of scientists, teachers, and innovators that she has been weaving through multiple books since her National Book Awardwinning collection, Ship Fever. The six exquisite stories in Natural History are set largely in a small community in central New York state and portray some of her most beloved characters, spanning the decades between the Civil War to the present day. In Henrietta and Her Moths, a woman tends to an insect nursery as her sisters life follows a different path. In Open House, a young man grapples with a choice between a thrilling life spent discovering fossils and a desire to remain close to home. And in the magnificent title novella, Natural History, Barrett deepens the connection between her characters, bringing us through to the present day and providing an unforgettable capstone.Told with Barretts characteristic elegance, passion for science, and wonderful eye for the natural world, the psychologically astute and moving stories gathered in this collection evoke the ways womens lives and expectationsin families, in work, and in lovehave shifted across a century and more. Building upon one another, these tales brilliantly culminate to reveal how the smallest events of the past can have large reverberations across the generations, and how potent, wondrous, and strange the relationship between history and memory can be.
