Second Generation

"A novel of satisfying depth and breadth, written in good, clean, forceful prose."
-Chicago Tribune

Desperate for independence and scornful of the hypocrisy of the upper class, Barbara Lavette returns to her family home in San Francisco following her first year of college determined to make her own way in the world. After abandoning her privileged life to disguise herself as a poor volunteer down on the wharf, Barbara journeys to France to report on the onset of Nazi terror and the coming of World War II.

But when tragedy strikes deep at the heart of the life Barbara has built for herself in Europe, she is forced to return to San Francisco heartbroken and alone where she must face the family she ran away from.

The second book in master storyteller Howard Fast's epic family saga, Second Generation vividly depicts the lives of the Lavette family as they struggle to persevere in America during the chaos of the Depression and World War II.

Desperate for independence and scornful of the hypocrisy of the upper class, Barbara Lavette returns to her family home in San Francisco following her first year of college determined to make her own way in the world.

Born in 1914, Howard Fast published over 53 novels, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His most famous novels included Spartacus, Freedom Road, Citizen Tom Paine, April Morning, The Crossing, The Unvanquished, My Glorious Brothers, and the three-generation family saga beginning with The Immigrants. Nineteen of his works became movies.