The place that provides the setting for MORNING SONGS is central to the lives of two of its characters, Esther and Toby Sutherland, and it is a place that draws their son Ned back to it many times. Like the family itself, it continues to be a source of affection, disaffection and perplexity for him as he departs from it and returns to it over the years. The novel's title is derived from a passage in "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas, a poem that celebrates a youngster's joy in the experiences of country life. The novel recalls such joys but recounts as well the troubled circumstances from which...

ANOTHER MUSIC celebrates the strength and endurance of Esther and Toby Sutherland, and tells of their son Ned's struggle to find a path of his own without breaking the ties that have shaped his character and influenced his choices. Divided in their opinions, acting from different beliefs, and often living far apart, Ned and his parents yet find that they are bound together from first to last. The Sutherlands also appeared in MORNING SONGS, a work about which readers have said: "The connection to land and place is striking." "It is powerful material--dramatic and wise." Its strength is in its...