The Mulvaneys are seemingly blessed by everything that makes life sweet. They live together in the picture-perfect High Point Farm, just outside the community of Mt Ephraim, New York, where they are respected and liked by everybody.
Yet something happens on Valentine's Day 1976. An incident involving Marianne Mulvaney, the pretty sixteen-year-old daughter, is hushed up in the town and never discussed within the family. The impact of this event reverberates throughout the lives of the characters.
As told by Judd, years later, in an attempt to make sense of his own past reveals the unspoken truths of that night that rends the fabric of the family life with tragic consequences. In ‘We Were the Mulvaneys’, Joyce Carol Oates, the highly acclaimed author of ‘Blonde’, masterfully weaves an unforgettable story of the rise, fall and ultimate redemption of an American family.
Joyce Carol Oates, a recipient of the National Book Award, is one of the most highly respected novelists, critic, playwright, poet and author of short stories. ‘We Were the Mulvaneys’ was first published in 1996. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University. Her highly acclaimed previous novel, ‘Blonde’ (2000), was short-listed for the National Book Award.