Next of Kin

by Gladys Hasty Carroll

STATED 1ST EDITION EX LIBRARY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN READ OR OPENED! EASILY COULD LIST AS NEW - MANY PHOTOS ATTACHED! SHIPS SAME DAY WITH TRACKING NUMBER!wdshf

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Gladys Hasty Carroll (June 26, 1904 – April 1, 1999) was an American novelist active from the late 1920s into the 1980s.

Reviews

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I read this right after I read “West of the Hill.” It is a more complicated book in that is spans many generations of a family through a journal style, going all the way back to the late 1660’s interspersed with a young woman living in 1972.
The book is extremely rich in history but I found it sad in many ways. (I wondered if Carroll had based the older journals on real ones because they seemed so realistic.) But so much tragedy strikes everyone. As for the young modern couple, the descriptions of their childhoods are very sad. No sense of family roots, unloving homes, and a sense that they are just existing. The premise of the book is that after they meet at university the young man, Larry, remembers that his grandfather owns an abandoned farm in Maine. He and Lisa (the modern diarist) are in love and finally happy. They decide to go there and start a new life together. I liked their part of the book the best.
I was young in 1972 and I remember that for years farms were being deserted all over Maine; you couldn’t give them away. Then people like Larry and Lisa started the “back to the land” movement.
The book has a very hopeful tone, a rebuilding of community, a respect for the past, and a reconnecting with nature.

[Zendelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as good as “As the Earth Turns,” I enjoyed this one more than some of the other books written later in her career. The best parts are the chapters devoted to the lives of family members gone by. If you like historical fiction, seek this one out.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of want to make it historical fiction, since it takes place in 1970. However, it was written then, so I hesitate.

Two fairly young hippy types have been traveling on their motorcycle, and decide to visit the young man's ancestral home in Maine, where they learn about his family's history and how to put down roots.

I always enjoy Gladys Hasty Carroll's writing. She has a gift for synthesizing the essence of any historical period, and painting in just the details that will make it come vividly to life.

This one begins with the point of view of a neighbor who has kept his eye on the crumbling old estate, and then devolves into a patchwork quilt of scenes from Larry's life, and Lisa's life, and the lives of Larry's ancestors through out American history. But if you read only one Gladys Hasty Carroll book, make it SING OUT THE GLORY. This one is good, but that one is the best.