Jewel

Each of Jewel Hilburn's six children is a blessing. But her youngest, Brenda Kay, who was born with Down syndrome, is also a burden. The smallest accomplishments are milestones in Brenda Kay's life, and Jewel must devote her complete attention to the child. Set in 1943 in backwoods Mississippi, Jewel is a haunting tale of heartbreak and the redemptive powers of love. Drawing from the real-life experiences of his grandmother and aunt, author Bret Lott spins a masterpiece of truth and triumph, capturing the joy of Brenda Kay's first steps and the strain the dependent child puts on the rest of the Hilburn family.

Chicago Tribune

Bret Lott's Jewel is a beautifully crafted first-person epic of one poor southern woman's personal duel with God....This is a voice we don't want to stop hearing....Some of the tenderest scenes of family love since those in Dickens....

Bret Lott is a native of Los Angeles, California. His parents were raised in Mississippi and East Texas and relocated to Los Angeles in the 1950s. It is this Southern heritage — going all the way back to the War Between the States — that Mr. Lott has drawn on in writing Jewel. He is the author of five highly acclaimed novels, The Man Who Owned Vermont, A Stranger's House, Jewel, Reed's Beach, and The Hunt Club, as well as two collections of widely anthologized short stories, A Dream of Old Leaves and How to Get Home, and a memoir, Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. He lives with his wife and two sons near Charleston, South Carolina, and teaches at the College of Charleston and Vermont College.