Skip to main content
Books, videos, and music - all free from your public library!
LoginSign Up

Footer

Hoopla logo, Go to homepage
  • For Patrons
  • For Libraries (opens in new window)
  • For Vendors (opens in new window)
  • Facebook (opens in new window)
  • X (opens in new window)
  • Instagram (opens in new window)
  • YouTube (opens in new window)
  • TikTok (opens in new window)
  • LinkedIn (opens in new window)

Our Company

  • Our Story
  • Get Hoopla for your Library (opens in new window)
  • Get your content on hoopla (opens in new window)
  • Join our team (opens in new window)
  • Accessibility Statement

Our Content

  • Audiobooks
  • Ebooks
  • Movies
  • Television
  • Comics
  • BingePasses
  • Music
  • The Loop Blog

Help

  • Help Center
  • Submit Feedback
  • Facebook (opens in new window)
  • X (opens in new window)
  • Instagram (opens in new window)
  • YouTube (opens in new window)
  • TikTok (opens in new window)
  • LinkedIn (opens in new window)
  • Download on the App Store (opens in new window)
  • Get it on Google Play (opens in new window)
  • Available at Amazon Appstore (opens in new window)
© 2026 Midwest Tape, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
  • Hoopla logo
    Powered by Hoopla
  • Browse
  • My Hoopla
  • Log In
  1. Navigate Home
  2. Ebooks
  3. Close to Home

EBOOK

Close to Home

Barbara Hall
3
(1)
sign up
Pages
298
Year
2014
Language
English
Publisher
Open Road Media

About

In the tradition of Anne Rivers Siddons and Pat Conroy comes this sensual, beautifully written novel of the South, about a world on the verge of change and the secrets it fears will be revealed   When you enter the town of Fawley, you take a step back to a simpler time, back to when neighbors shared potluck dinners, church socials were the only parties decent people attended, and people knew who they were and what they valued-and didn't tolerate outsiders who tried to change things.   It is into this closed but nonetheless appealing community that Danny Crane brings his new wife, Lydia. They met at Myrtle Beach, where they spent a week in the rush and confusion of falling in love. The relationship that ensued startled them both, and the fact that they married six months later was equally disorienting. It was an act of passionate conviction and blind faith.   From the outset, Lydia finds Fawley to be different from the exclusive and privileged environment in which she was raised, secure in both "name" and "position" in her family's stately home in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC. But gradually Lydia comes to realize that few things in Fawley are as they seem, for behind the serenity and the clean-scrubbed façades, there exists a tradition of suspicion and anger, of hostility toward outsiders and fear of change of any kind.   Even more disturbing is her realization that Danny, too, is not what he had seemed-that beneath the easy charm lies a darkness borne of distrust and deception, and of secrets too closely kept. In a struggle to hold on to the marriage she continues to believe in, Lydia is forced to confront the forces that have shaped her husband-the town of Fawley itself, and Danny's family, most especially his cousin Kyle, whose personal magnetism even Lydia has to acknowledge, but whose hold on those around him becomes more and more destructive. Filled with the heat generated by passions too long suppressed and secrets too long kept buried, Close to Home is both a sensual and a literary gem.

Related Subjects

  • Cultural Heritage
  • Adult Fiction
  • Women
  • Psychological
  • Small Town & Rural
  • General
  • Family Life

Reviews

"Hall is a fine stylist, particularly deft in capturing slips of the tongue and silences more telling than words. And through her surprising plot twists, she reveals the dark side of the South, where civility can be mistaken for kindness, and manners for morality."
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
"Class differences are highlighted in this insightful story . . . Hall writes compassionately without pulling any punches."
Booklist
"Close to Home by Barbara Hall is a fascinating and hopeful journey into the dark heart of class conflict. It's an exciting, fast-paced story, told with humor and sensitivity."
Booklist

Artists

Barbara HallAuthor

Similar Artists

  • Alice Walker

  • Christina Baker Kline

  • Elizabeth Jane Howard

  • Hannah Pittard

  • Ira Levin