Narrated with warmth and intelligence, ‘The
Used World’ is the third novel from the bestselling
author of ‘The Solace of Leaving Early’ and explores the
interconnected lives of three women who work in an
antiques emporium in Indiana Hazel Hunnicutt is the
proprietor of The Used World Emporium, a cavernous
antiques store filled with the cast-offs of countless
lives in the town of Jonah, Indiana. Knowing, witty and
often infuriatingly stubborn, Hazel has lived in the
town her whole life, daughter of the local doctor, and
is keeper of many of its secrets. Working with her in
the store are Claudia, a solitary soul since the death
of her beloved parents and, at over 6 feet, an oddity to
all who see her; and Rebekah, a young woman forced to
leave the suffocating Christian sect she was born into,
but adrift in the outside world. It is shortly before
Christmas and the lives of these three women are about
to change irrevocably: for Claudia, who has hidden away
from life since the death of her mother, a new arrival –
which comes to her in the most unexpected of ways – will
give her a second chance at happiness and a family to
replace the one she has lost. Meanwhile Rebekah,
abandoned by her feckless first boyfriend, must face up
to an unplanned pregnancy and exile from her family
home. Watching over Claudia and Rebekah is Hazel, whose
own story of lost love is revealed in flashbacks. As
their lives intertwine in ways they could never have
imagined, and a dark chapter of history is revealed, the
three women are forced to confront their pasts and face
up to the future as this gripping and heart-warming
novel reaches its dramatic climax. Peopled with a
delightfully idiosynchratic cast of characters and with
a love story at its centre, ‘The Used World’ is a
beautifully written and brilliantly told story, in the
tradition of Fannie Flagg, Garrison Keillor and Ann
Patchett.
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