This sequel to Gibbon's beloved classic Ellen Foster stands on its own as an unforgettable portrait of a redoubtable adolescent making herself up out of whole cloth. Now fifteen, Ellen is settled into a permanent home with a new mother. Strengthened by adversity and blessed with enough intelligence to design a salvation for herself, she still feels ill at ease in the world. Her sole surviving ritual - a visit to the county fair - takes on totemic...

Story of three generations of women from the Kate family living in rural North Carolina.

Like her first two award-winning novels (Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman), A Cure for Dreams is set in the rural and small-town South and draws richly upon the author's ear for comic turns of phrase and her sure grasp of the humor, pathos, and dignity of supposedly "ordinary" people. The determination of the women of the story to assert themselves in confining, dependent situations makes for uplifting, enjoyable reading.

Gena Rowlands is Charlie Kate Birch, a fiercely independent family matriarch and maker of homeopathic remedies who lives with her daughter Sophia (Mimi Rogers) and granddaughter Margaret (Susan May Pratt) in North Carolina during WWII. When Margaret falls for a wounded soldier, grandma gently nurtures the relationship, even as she tries to help Sophia heal from a broken heart.