Carolyn Chute

"The Beans of Egypt, Maine introduced the world to the notorious, unforgettable Bean clan of small town Egypt, Maine--from wild man Reuben, an alcoholic who can't seem to keep himself out of jail; to his cousins, the perpetually pregnant Roberta, and Beal, a man gentle by temperament but violent in defeat who marries his pious neighbor, Earlene Pomerleau before poverty kills him. As the Beans struggled with their inner demons to survive against hardship...

The school on Heart's Content Road spirals out from the story of Mickey Gammon, a disaffected fifteen-year-old dropout who has been evicted from his home by his overwrought half-brother. With the help of his new friend, Rex York, the captain of the local militia, Mickey is introduced to the secretive world of the Settlement. Run by a man known to many as 'The Prophet,' the Settlement is a rural cooperative in alternative energy, farm produce, and...

When journalist Ivy Morelli sets out to investigate the mysterious leader of the nearby homeschool, known as "The Prophet," she is drawn into the life of his self-sufficient countercultural community called the Settlement.