In this striking new novel, Susan Richards Shreve gives us a breathtaking portrait of America since 1900, as witnessed by four generations of strong, passionate women.First is Anna, the lovely immigrant servant whose marriage to a wellborn doctor leads to their expulsion from his Washington family.It is their daughter, Amanda, born New Year's Day, 1900, whose story is the center of the book. Strong-minded and courageous, she runs off to France to photograph World War I and later travels the United States, capturing the pathos of the lives of women and the poor. Her work defines her character as well as that of the swift-moving twentieth century, in which lives are recalled as a series of brief intense moments strung together like a picture album.The ensuing generations--Sara, in the forties, and Eleanor, in the sixties--share Amanda's refusal to bow to convention.Daughters of the New World is a spell-binding chronicle of extraordinary, incident-rich lives, a multigenerational novel with a contemporary sense of time. Susan Richards Shreve has created unforgettable characters who enhance our admiration of American women--their great strength, their capacity for love, and their courage to invent their own lives. Read Less