From My Bookshelf: Anna Solomon

In 1917 Beatrice Haven leaves her newborn baby at the foot of a pear tree on her uncle’s property in Cape Ann, Massachusetts.  This sets off a chain of events involving a very diverse group of characters on a collision course.

Beatrice is the unwed daughter of a wealthy Jewish industrialist with a future as a concert pianist, a young woman headed for Radcliff Collage.  But her actions on that particular night will write her future, and the family of pear thieves who take the baby with them will never be the same either.

Emma Murphy has a large family, a hard drinking Irish husband who, as a fisherman, is seldom home.  She now has one more mouth to feed.  Life is harsh for this family.  Everyone works.  Every penny counts. Prohibition is in full swing and the family is using the stolen pears to make perry – cider made from fermented pears.

This novel deals with class, with freedom, with racism and is a fascinating portrayal of the 1920s.  The Sacco and Venzetti trial, labour riots, Bea’s gay husband, the evil industrialist determined to bust the stone cutter’s union, mental illness, child abuse and a variety of sub-plots make this little book a fascinating read.

……………and others

From January 1920 to December 1933 prohibition in the USA made it illegal to manufacture, sell, import or transport alcoholic beverages.