Up a Road Slowly
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| Author | Irene Hunt |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Don Bolognese |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Follett |
Publication date | 1966 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback), Audiobook |
| Pages | 192 pp (first edition hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0695890093 |
Up a Road Slowly is a 1966 coming-of-age novel by Irene Hunt that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature.
Plot summary
When seven-year-old Julie's mother dies, she is sent to live with her Aunt Cordelia, an unmarried schoolteacher who lives in a large house several miles outside town. Her uncle Haskell lives in a converted carriage house behind the main house. Haskell is an alcoholic who, like his niece, aspires to be a writer (although he never produces a manuscript). Julie's brother Chris goes to boarding school, leaving her alone with Aunt Cordelia.
At first, grief-stricken Julie finds Aunt Cordelia stern and strict, but as she grows to young adulthood she comes to love her and to see her house as home. She becomes so attached to her that even when she has the chance to move back with her father, she declines.
The story follows Julie from the age of seven to seventeen, from elementary school through her high-school graduation, and documents the ordinary events in a child's life: the cruelty of children, jealousy, schoolwork trouble, and first love. Julie also encounters problems in the lives of the adults around her, including alcoholism and mental illness.
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