A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD is Anne Tyler's 20th book. She has been writing excellent fiction for half a century, and in 1988 received a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for BREATHING LESSONS.

This latest family saga spans four generations of the Whitshank family, beginning with Junior and Linnie Mae, an unlikely pairing at best who overcome the hardscrabble Depression years. Junior is determined to succeed; by sheer will and hard work, he does just that. The house he builds for the Brills he intends to own one day. A bit of mystery surrounds the burglar's bag of tools and how Junior and Linnie Mae end up with the house on Boulton Road in Baltimore.

"The Whitshanks are the kind of family that only someone with Anne Tyler's writing skills can bring to life believably. As always, she fleshes out her characters with a mix of faults, quirks and redeeming qualities."

Junior and Linnie Mae have two children. Their son, Red, continues in the family construction business and later moves into the family home. Red and Abby marry and have three children: Amanda, Jeannie and Denny. They also raise a boy named Douglas, nicknamed “Stem,” whom they never adopted. Denny is the troubled child who never fit in. His parents spend a great deal of effort and worry trying to keep him on a straight path. As an adult, he appears in their lives randomly and lives a mysterious life outside the family circle. He would disappear, giving them no contact information, for long periods of time. Both daughters marry men named Hugh and have families. Stem follows Red into the business as he loves working with wood. He marries a pleasant churchgoing woman, and they have three sons.

Things come to a head after Red has a heart attack and is unable to keep the house up to his standards. Abby wanders off at times, and even when she's present, her mind isn't working quite right. The adult children decide that Red and Abby need someone to live with them. This causes all manner of stress and strain when Stem, Nora and the three little boys move in. Then Denny, resenting Stem's family's move, arrives to look after their parents Three generations living under one roof is not easy and is certainly made more difficult because the decision was forced on Red and Abby.

To outward appearances, the Whitshanks appear to be a normal family, whatever one's definition of normal may be. But the Whitshanks think they are special, and that's how they would like to be thought of --- they don't want to be just ordinary. They certainly do have their secrets --- a huge one is revealed after Abby's untimely death --- and there is a hint that perhaps Junior had something to do with frightening Mrs. Brill out of her lovely home. Then there is a rather scandalous back story about Junior and Linnie Mae that helps explain their somewhat uneasy relationship.  

The Whitshanks are the kind of family that only someone with Anne Tyler's writing skills can bring to life believably. As always, she fleshes out her characters with a mix of faults, quirks and redeeming qualities.