These Granite Islands

During the summer of 1936, in the mining town of Cypress, Minn., two women suddenly free of their husbands discover things about themselves and each other. For Isobel, this means finally creating her own millinery business out of her spouse's tailor shop. Cathryn, on the other hand, passionate and plagued by depression, goes several dangerous steps further. While one woman reaches a fresh resolution in her marriage, the other drives a stronger, more divisive wedge into hers. Tempered by the peekaboo conceit of Isobel's flashbacks (the 99-year-old is looking back 63 years), Stonich's quiet, understated prose lends a deceptively languid tone to These Granite Islands, which is ultimately driven by stormy emotions, irrevocably confronted in one thunder-and-lightning- battered afternoon.