Ellen Baker

Keeping the House Ellen Baker Unabridged edition

Keeping the House is a big-hearted, multigenerational novel about women's lives in the 1950s and early 20th century, with big themes of love, sex, wartime heroism, broken hearts, and second chances.

When newlywed Dolly Magnuson moves to 1950s Pine Rapids, Wisconsin, she discovers that making marriage work is harder than it looks in the pages of the Ladies Home Journal. As she adapts to her new life, her restless imagination is seized by an abandoned Victorian house which, she learns from quilting-circle gossip, belongs to the once prominent Mickelson family. When she trespasses in the mansion, she is discovered by the troubled grandson, JJ Mickelson, a Marine verteran who lost his leg at Iwo Jima. Ultimately, JJ reveals the fascinating story of his family's downfall, and both Dolly and JJ will likewise discover the truths of their own lives and feelings.