The mineral palace2000
by Heidi Julavits
"The year is 1934, and Bena Duse Jonssen, the midwestern wife of a doctor, and young mother of a newborn, has an outwardly comfortable existence unaffected by the Great Depression. But she is plagued with superstitious ritual and the buried remnants of a tragic girlhood, and when she and her husband move to Pueblo, Colorado - a withering mining town afflicted by dust storms and social extremes of wealth and poverty - her life begins to unravel.
Nothing can thrive in the bleak environment, not Bena and Ted's marriage, and not their baby, who Bena believes, despite her husband's constant assurances, is in failing health.".
"To distract herself, Bena accepts a part-time position as a society reporter for the local paper, following the activities of the town's elite club women - women such...