The author of The Road Through Miyama plunges into her own family's rich history along the shores of the Hudson River to uncover evidence of tenant farmers, renegade aunts, secret children, manor lords, and other colorful figures. 17,500 first printing. Philip (English, Colgate Univ.; The Road Through Miyama) grew up at Talavera, an estate in New York's Hudson Valley that has been in her family since 1807 and is now a working apple orchard, struggling to survive. Philip and her four siblings had to help their mother maintain the estate after the death of their father, no small feat considering the financial risk and the vast history of the land. Philip researched Talavera and her family, finding that it is no ordinary one; she uncovered diplomats, war heroes, renegade aunts, irresponsible playboys, and even an illegitimate child. While all this may bring to mind family-based TV sagas like The Big Valley or Dallas, the fact that the story is still unfolding as you read makes it all the more riveting. Relying on both family lore and documents from historical societies, this is one of the most finely written family histories available. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Lee Arnold, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. In part memoir, part historical chronicle, Philip takes readers along as she delves into the trunks, boxes, diaries, and accounts that have accumulated through the centuries in the plentiful closets, attics, and barns at her family's Hudson Valley estate. Intertwining pieces of family history with narratives of current daily activities as her family struggles to keep their fruit farm viable, Philip explores the complex relationship of family and land. The historical segments focus on the male family members during wartime, drawing on letters written during the Civil War by her great-uncle and letters from her father to his parents during World War II. While attempting to find out more about the women in the family, the author discovers a secret about which no one in the family seems to know (although people in the community were aware of the situation). Philip skillfully places details about her family within the context of events in American culture to make this an intriguing work on many levels. Randall Enos Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Leila Philip is the author of The Road Through Miyama , a memoir of her apprenticeship to a master potter in Japan, for which she won the 1990 PEN/Martha Albrand Special Citation for Nonfiction. She is a professor of English at Colgate University.