What We’re Reading: The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
Henry flipped through the pages and found the table of contents. There were five chapters: Discovery, Shock, Dissent, War, and Comeback. He felt he had been through all of them.
Wilton College, Pennsylvania, 1946. An unnamed orphan arrives at the “practice house”; the next in a succession of real babies used to teach mothering skills to women enrolled in the college’s home economics program. The boy is the extraordinary Henry House, and the novel is the story of his life and how he is shaped by his exceptional beginning.
As Henry grows up and away from (most of) his many mothers, he finds himself anxious to escape small-town life and experience the emerging boom of post-war American culture. From Walt Disney’s California studios, the emergence of women’s lib and the hippie movement, to swinging London in the 1960’s, Henry drifts through the seminal events of his time while shouldering the burden of his unconventional childhood. Always loved, but not always loveable, Henry possesses a wariness when it comes to loving and trusting anyone; this shapes his character and reveals itself repeatedly in the relationships he develops throughout his life.
Henry is a marvellous fictional creation and a character who will stay with you long after you finish his story. Part David Copperfield, part The World According to Garp, this is a sprawling, humorous, and extremely captivating novel.
Lisa Grunwald is the author of several previous novels including The Irresistible Henry House, Whatever Makes you Happy and New Year’s Eve.
Review courtesy of Margot, TPL staff.
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