Download the reading group guide for Pilgrim State

I fell in love with this manuscript the first time I read it. 

 Jackie Walker’s brave and loving recreation of her mother’s life reminded me instantly of the power of The Color of Water.  She takes risks with structure, she creates atmosphere and drama and she has an astonishing ability to bring the extraordinary settings of her mother’s story into vivid life.   I often saw this as a play or movie as each Act contrasts with the other – I loved the power of that.

It is about mothers and daughters and what we learn and pass on.  On the face of it what happened to Dorothy and her family is tragic, but it’s not about the events – it’s about that wonderful human ability to keep on bouncing back.  It is a love story of family and it’s heartbreaking, enriching and inspirational.

Lisa Highton, editor of Pilgrim State