In Carol Hoenig's previous novel, Without Grace, it is believed that Grace Finley walked out on her husband and two young children to fulfill a selfish dream of becoming a famous singer, leaving behind rumors and questions among her family and townsfolk in the mountains of Upstate New York.Now in Before She Was a Finley, it is years later when Adele, a reluctant young journalism student is assigned to "get" a story from a local nursing home where she comes across elderly Grace Finley. Over time, Grace slowly takes Adele back to the 1930s and subsequent years that follow as she provides bits and pieces that eventually reveal the dark truth as to why she walked out on her family carrying only a guitar and suitcase. Adele knows that the class assignment was simply to write about a local person, and even though journalists aren't supposed to be a part of the story, she cannot shake what she discovered and wants to do more to set the record straight. But is...

The Vietnam War is on the nightly news and women are burning bras in thefast-changing world of the 1960s, but thirty-year old Laura wonders why herchoice as a feminist couldn't be to have a baby without marriage. Laura notonly has to justify her desire to her forward-thinking friends, but to herfundamentally religious siblings, as well. Yet, her most important mission isto find a man who will agree to impregnate her and then get out of the pictureonce the act is accomplished.Four narrators push along this charming tale set in 1960s Seabrook, LongIsland, as three adult siblings converge in their recently deceased father's home.Laura is a 30-year-old newspaper columnist from New York. Her brother, Eric, isa compassionate minister trying to find his faith, and sister Beth is an angry anddisapproving fundamentalist who is determined to hinder her siblings' desires in the name of her religion. They share the narration with Eric's wife,...