Our Share of Morning: A Novel

Her eyes were fixed on my face. “Men,” she said simply. “And women. Make mistakes. Blissful, dreadful mistakes. But more often than not, women pay the price.”

1933. A three-story tenement in a mill town west of Boston. In the third-floor apartment hangs a portrait of unforgettable beauty: Ada, a neighbor’s daughter, who disappeared years before. In the apartment below, two sisters—thoughtful, sensible Violet and gifted but fragile Glory—come of age unaware of how the missing Ada haunts their lives. As disease and poverty threaten their family, they are each other’s refuge. But as they reach adulthood, the fallout from a broken love affair—while unraveling the mystery of Ada—threatens their bond.
Narrated in turns by each of the sisters, Our Share of Morning reveals how contagion, misogyny, and a series of betrayals force Violet and Glory to face immutable loss. Poignant and poetic, the novel is a meditation on meaning, fate, forgiveness, and the fierce endurance of sisterly love.

About the Author

Laura Bonazzoli’s short-story cycle, Consecration Pond, was praised by Publishers Weekly as poetic and haunting. Her short fiction, poetry, and essays have been published in dozens of literary magazines and several anthologies. She works as a freelance editor and ghostwriter, and teaches creative writing with Maine Media Workshops. She holds a BA from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, and an MFA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She lives in Midcoast Maine. Our Share of Morning is her first novel.

Praise for Our Share of Morning

"With a rich cast of characters and a narrative that intertwines the sisters’ voices across multiple timelines, Our Share of Morning is a touching exploration of the heartaches that tear us apart, but more importantly, the bonds that hold us together." —Cynthia Reeves, author of The Last Whaler and Falling Through the New World

"As I read Our Share of Morning, I came to feel myself a sister to these two sisters, Violet and Glory, as if I had grown up with them in that three-story tenement outside Boston and had shared their dreams and heartbreaks and joys. Reading Bonazzoli’s beautifully crafted novel is a deeply moving experience." —Jonna Bragg, author of The Broom of God, Exit 8, and Hemlock Flat

"A tenderly written account of the perennial trials women face and the strength they muster to overcome hardship, Our Share of Morning tells the story of two sisters navigating girlhood into womanhood in the 1930s and 1940s in a New England town... Readers will both cheer on and weep for these sisters. But through the darkness, threads of light lace the narrative, offering comfort in what remains beautiful and true––the enduring bond of sisterhood, forgiveness, and the healing power of art."
—Jodi Paloni, author of They Could Live With Themselves

"Told through the eyes of two sisters coming of age amidst poverty, illness, and misogyny, Our Share of Morning is the story of a secret that threatens to tear their family and community apart. Poetic and heartbreaking, it is beautifully written with tension and tenderness. Long after you finish reading, the characters will haunt you."
—Isabel Tutaine, author of Song of the Wooden Sparrow and When Mist and Brine Touch