These days it is almost common to hear of the birth of quintuplets. But in 1900 such an event was literally unheard of. Thus Bobbie Ann Mason imagines it, surrounds the birth with the life of a struggling tobacco farmer in Kentucky, fits it out with superstitions, family conflicts, and the customs of the day. Yet she creates in the mother, Christianna Wheeler ("Christie"), ultimately a strong woman.

When Christie met her husband-to-be, James, she was over the moon. She was in love, in lust, and had dreams of a storybook life. She was no stranger to hard work and did not expect her load to be small, but in no way did she resent it. She took her place proudly, first living with relatives, then in a small house with her husband, on land bought on time from her husband's uncle. It was a struggle to get by but with her garden and their farm they never wanted for food.

Having had two children, the second larger than the first, Christie was not surprised that she was growing bigger yet with the third. But she grew so large that she could hardly move. The doctor said she had cysts, but Christie thought it was something worse, something mythical even, some very bad thing. She had thoughts that she was going to give birth to some kind of evil creature.

The birth of the quintuplets was, in that sense at least, a relief.

The birth was so unusual that Christie became known far and wide. The train stopped near their home to let off curious travelers, desperate to see the babies. One thing led to another and another, and Christie found her life changed forever.

Quite a curious story, yet believable in the context of the time. At first I had difficulty liking it but eventually Christie won me over. And I was satisfied with how it all came out in the end. ( )

I did not enjoy the majority of this book. It moved slow, which I can handle in some books, but this book never picked up the pace. I felt like the story lacked a good arc, and I finished the book feeling less than satisfied. I did appreciate the end of the story - the connections that Christie Wheeler makes with other families, but other than that, I would not recommend this book. ( )

Feather Crowns begins on the night in 1900 that Christie Wheeler gives birth to the first living quintuplets in North America. She and her husband, James, are relatively poor farmers in Kentucky, living on the same land as his extended family. The Wheelers are overwhelmed by trying to care for five babies and by the huge number of people who start barging into their house for the chance to see the babies. I did a little bit of research on the internet, and I couldn’t find anything to indicate that this was based on a true story, so I’ll assume that it’s completely fictional.

I loved In Country, the first novel I read by Bobbie Ann Mason, but I was really disappointed by this one. It was incredibly slow and probably should have been half as long as it was (454 pages). This was partly because the whole novel was told from Christie’s point of view, and for most of it, she was confined to bed after just having given birth, so there wasn’t much action, just her thoughts. It was so tedious to read that I rarely got through more than 20 pages a day. The last 100 pages picked up a bit, but I was just so ready to be done with this one by that time that it just didn’t matter. Mason did do a really good job developing Christie’s character and the huge weight she suddenly had to deal with (it’s obviously a huge shock to find yourself delivering five babies when you were only expecting one), but I just didn’t care about her enough to make it worth reading the whole novel. I’d highly recommend In Country, Mason’s other novel, but I can’t say the same for Feather Crowns. ( )

This ambitiously historical novel differs from Mason's other books. Although the geographical setting is, again, rural Kentucky, her cast of down-home folks is transposed from the K-Marts of 1988 to "the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900" (as the book jacket puts it). So the characters of FEATHER CROWNS might be the ancestors to those of Mason's other fiction, a thought that I enjoyed recalling in the course of reading.

Those who enjoy period details and forays into social history will be in their element here: food, clothing, chores, crops, and other details of farm life are portrayed extensively. We get insider views of tent revivals, the vaudeville and medicine show circuits, as well as everyday manners and behavior. Against this backdrop, Mason unfolds the story of a farm wife who gives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North American history (based in part on actual events). The young family find themselves overwhelmed by the fascination that surrounds this phenomenon. It proves impossible to care for so many young children while the popular will demands sensational display.

In spite of the intrinsic interest of these topics, I found the novel unfocused. Mason seemed determined to tell me something of great import, but aside from the typical failings of human nature and/or of the capitalist system, I remained unsure what the message should be. Many will no doubt disagree with me, but I much prefer this author's short stories and contemporary settings. ( )

In rural Kentucky, a young farm wife unexpectedly gives birth to quintuplets. Surrounded first by friends and family and, increasingly by intrusive strangers bent on "getting a look" at the babies, the young mother struggles to cope with a world that is rapidly moving outside her experience. How she deals with this, and the tragedies that beset her throughout her life, is the unfolding story. Mason has perfectly captured the time, place and circumstance of this story. Expect the first third of the book to be taken up with an astonishingly detailed (and sometimes tedious) account of the babies' first days. ( )