Hilda and Pearl

To Frances, an only child living in McCarthy-era Brooklyn, her mother, Hilda, and her aunt Pearl seem as if they have always been old friends. The closeness that joins them together seems impenetrable. In Frances's lonely world of preadolescent fears and betrayal, the trust between the two women is unquestioned. But the outside world slowly makes its way into Frances's home, exposing secrets from the past. Why does Hilda one day distractedly refer to her first pregnancy if Frances is her only child? Whose scuffed baby shoes are hidden in Hilda's dresser drawer? What causes the tension when her father's brother and Pearl come to visit? In Hilda and Pearl, Alice Mattison creates a story that is gripping at every turn, one whose setting is so familiar that its inherent tragedy touches deeply. She tells the universal story of friendship - its hesitant beginnings, tentative advances, and disheartening setbacks - with quiet sensitivity and understanding. Both the story of a young girl confused by her changing world and the unfolding past of her mother and aunt, Hilda and Pearl resonates deeply, revealing in beautiful, clear language the complexities of friendship and loss.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.