Unsheltered : a novel
(Book)

At the corner of Sixth and Plum in Vineland, New Jersey two families live in the same house-- centuries apart. Willa and Iano Knox followed all the rules as responsible parents and professionals, and have nothing to show for it but debts and an inherited brick house that is falling apart. The magazine where she worked folded; the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The household includes her disabled father-in-law and a daughter; their newly-widowed son Zeke and his own newborn son will soon join them. In a different time, Thatcher Greenwood, a science teacher, has been forbidden to speak of the work just published by Charles Darwin. His young bride and social-climbing mother-in-law bristle dismiss his worries that their elegant house is unsound. Each family lives in precarious times-- and the foundations of the past have failed to prepare either for the future. -- adapted from publisher info