Mary Coin - Paperback

by Marisa Silver (Author)

Bestselling author Marisa Silver takes Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother photograph as inspiration for a story of two women--one famous and one forgotten--and their remarkable chance encounter.

In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of the road in central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting migrant laborers in search of work. Few personal details are exchanged and neither woman has any way of knowing that they have produced one of the most iconic images of the Great Depression. In present day, Walker Dodge, a professor of cultural history, stumbles upon a family secret embedded in the now-famous picture. In luminous prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief event in history and its repercussions throughout the decades that follow--a reminder that a great photograph captures the essence of a moment yet only scratches the surface of a life.

Author Biography

Marisa Silver is the author of the novels The God of War (a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist), No Direction Home, and Little Nothing; and two story collections, Alone With You and Babe in Paradise (a New York Times Notable Book and Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year). She lives in Los Angeles.