I am sitting in my car in the parking lot of a nursing home in central New Jersey.

The announcer told the audience to be quiet as Fred Fisher directed his te am of Belgian horses toward a loaded sled in the pulling ring at the Sandwich, New Hampshire Fair.

Memorial Day is a time for Americans to honor soldiers who died in service to this country. It’s a day of gratitude and remembrance. For veterans, Memorial Day is a little different. It’s personal.

On the Great Plains of Katama surrounding Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown, broad fields of sandplain grasslands rippled in the gusty winds as spring unfolded in all its glory this week.

Julia Spiro’s third novel, Such a Good Mom, opens on deceptively conventional grounds.