Preview of A Southern Family Summary:

In 1987, while working on A Southern Family, Godwin wrote "All my protagonists . . . disguised by gender or species, occupation or social class or hardly disguised at all—are parts of myself." This novel, apparently written in response to a shattering event in Godwin's own family, has at least eight protagonists—and, if we believe Godwin's statement, each one is a part of its author. The central figure, Theo Quick, dies before page...