Hannah Coulter
The novel begins in 1940 in the small fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. Through Hannah’s memories, a story unfolds of a rural family’s experiences and challenges over the next sixty years. Hannah’s early years are spent in nearby Hargrave. When she graduates from high school, her beloved “grandmam” takes her to meet an old friend in Port William. Ora Findley arranges housing and finds her work. Hannah becomes acquainted with Ora’s family, the Feltners, including their son Virgil. Hannah and Virgil fall in love and marry. Shortly after, he is drafted and, two years later, reported missing after the Battle of the Bulge. With Virgil’s death, Hannah, a single mother, begins a new chapter in her life. Nathan Coulter returns from the war to settle into farming. They marry, and the rest of the story follows their life together in Port William. Berry’s simple but intricate prose is as enlaced as the families and individuals who populate the fictional town. The novel captures the subtle nuances of a life slowly but inexorably fading into history.
