Further down the A aisle...

Vinegar Hill is another book by A. Manette Ansay. This is the second book I've read lately in which religion plays a big part. This time it's German Catholics in the midwest during the 70s. Women were told to grin and bear it if their husbands mistreated them and look at their own behavior as the possible reason for the mistreatment. This story centers around a young couple who go back to Wisconsin to live with the husband's parents after he lost his job. It's a real horror story of all the abuse Ellen (the young wife) endures at the hands of her husband's parents. The elder father's cruelty toward her husband and the children is beyond horrifying and almost brings Ellen to a breakdown. Vinegar Hill was one of Oprah's Book Club picks and the first novel that brought Ansay some attention as a writer. Her central themes of the two books I've read are unusual and can be depressing, but she manages to find some clear sky to make everything okay.