This is the story of a middle-class family living in the industrialized "midland country" at the turn of the 20th century. It is against this dingy backdrop that Alice Adams seeks to distinguish herself. She goes to a dance in a used dress, which her mother attempts to renew by changing the lining and adding some lace. She adorns herself not with orchids sent by the florist but with a bouquet of violets she has picked herself. Because her family cannot...

The story of a middle-class British family and their struggle to survive during WWII. Mrs. Miniver nobly tends her rose garden while her stalwart husband participates in the evacuation at Dunkirk. She personafies grace under pressure as the Miniver family huddles in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, while she is forced to confront a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, and while she is preparing for her annual flower show despite the...

National Book Award Finalist
The basis for Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
 
“A perfect novel . . . economical, piquant, beautiful, true” that chronicles the lives of a wealthy family in 1930s Kansas through the eyes of its matriarch (Meg Wolitzer, New York Times–bestselling author).
In Mrs. Bridge, Evan S. Connell, a consummate...

Kevin Arnold reminisces about his teenage years growing up in his middle-class family in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A young girl faces the consequences of sudden loss after the death of her sister. As her parents drift toward their own risky consolations, thirteen-year-old Nico is left alone to grope toward understanding and clarity, falling into a seductive, dangerous relationship with her sister's enigmatic boyfriend. Over one haunted summer, Nico must face that life-changing moment when children realize their parents can no longer help them. She learns about...

The Hecks tackle the beginning of a new school year, a not-so-relaxing Thanksgiving, and an unexpected wedding.

As middle-aged, middle-class, middle-of-the-country mom Frankie Heck tackles the mundane chaos of everyday life her kids manufacture drama, and her husband offers his support while sitting on the living room couch.

The idyllic lives of civic-minded environmentalists Patty and Walter Berglund come into question when their son moves in with aggressive Republican neighbors, green lawyer Walter takes a job in the coal industry, and go-getter Patty becomes increasingly unstable and enraged.

Surrealist filmmaker Gary Burns (Waydowntown, A problem with fear) joins journalist Jim Brown on an outing to the burbs. Amidst the fresh foundations of monster homes, the two explore the dark side of suburbia and create a provocative reflection on why we live the way we do. Playing off sitcoms and reality TV, Burns and Brown turn the documentary genre inside out, crafting a vivid account of life in The late suburban age.

The Hecks tackle the beginning of a new school year, a not-so-relaxing Thanksgiving, and an unexpected wedding.