Description

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates (1997 ed.)

Joyce Carol Oates’s We Were the Mulvaneys is a haunting, deeply human portrait of a seemingly perfect American family whose world unravels after a single traumatic event. Set in rural upstate New York in the 1970s, the Mulvaneys live an admired life on their beloved High Point Farm—successful, close‑knit, and full of promise.

But everything changes on Valentine’s Day 1976, when Marianne Mulvaney is sexually assaulted after a school dance. The family’s refusal—and their community’s unwillingness—to confront the truth fractures their once‑ideal home. In the aftermath, Marianne is quietly exiled, Michael Sr. spirals into alcoholism, and the siblings scatter, each wrestling with guilt, silence, and emotional fallout.

Narrated in part by youngest son Judd, the novel traces the Mulvaneys’ long descent and their halting, painful attempts at repair across decades. Oates explores themes of shame, family loyalty, small‑town judgment, and the fragile myth of the “perfect family.” Ultimately, the story asks whether reconciliation is possible after devastation—and what it means to come home again.

A gripping, emotionally resonant family saga, We Were the Mulvaneys remains one of Oates’s most celebrated and widely read novels.

Copyright: This paperback copy was published by Plume in 1997 with cover art including “‘Oate’s finest… a book about the ways of the heart and the compelling ties of love… a major achievement.’ – The Chicago Tribune“.

Condition: Okay. Loved. 

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ISBN-10: 0452277205

ISBN-13: 9780452277205

Dewey Decimal: 813.54