The Wishing Box
A sometimes funny, sometimes magical first novel, The Wishing
Box explores the surprising and unintended consequences of getting
what you ask for. Julia, an almost-30 single mom whose life is
mostly together, lives in Oakland with her seven-year-old son.
Never suspecting it will actually work, she and her sister create
a wishing box and half-seriously hold a ceremony for the return
of the father who abandoned them as children. Astonishingly, he
comes back-but Julia's life has already moved abruptly in a new
direction, and she has taken off in much the same way her father
had many years before. Julia and her unusual family are at the
heart of this novel about appearances and disappearances, the
desire to control the future and explain the past, and the legacies
passed on from one generation to another.
Author Biography
Dashka Slater is the recipient of a 2004 Creative Writing Fellowship
from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her
novel, The Wishing Box (Chronicle, 2000), was
named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles
Times. She is currently working on a collection of short
stories.
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