You can now purchase books directly from Penguin Random House on RIF! Free Shipping on orders over $20.
    • Monthly Favorites
    • Excerpts
    • Giveaways
    • Book Apothecary
    • TBR Time
  • |
    • Articles
    • Videos
    • Author Interviews
    • 8 Great Questions
    • Author Essays
    • Longform
  • |
    • RIF Podcasts​
    • Marlon & Jake Read Dead People
    • The Adaptables
  • |
  • Subscribe

5 Books about Inheritances Gained, Lost, and Wished For

Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty ponders things inherited.

By RAMONA AUSUBEL • 4 years ago
inheritance

We all receive an inheritance. We inherit a sharp nose or wide eyes. We inherit furniture, fishing trophies, journals and baking dishes. Some of us inherit money. But most of what we inherit are stories, or a combination of stories and charged silences. Each of us is shaped by the story we have been told about where we came from, what our people have survived or accomplished, what kind of life we deserve.

While I worked on Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, a novel about a wealthy family that loses their money, I thought about how we carry the past with us, whether it’s in the form of objects, stories, memories or means. I thought about how an inheritance might offer tremendous freedom and sometimes tugs with tremendous weight.

Here are five books about inheritances gained, lost and wished for. What truly belongs to us? What happens when we end up with more than we expected, or less?


Featured Image: Elsa Jenna; Author Photo: Teo Grossman

What We're Reading This Week

Get recommendations for the greatest books around straight to your inbox every week.
Great! You've signed up successfully!
We are experiencing an error, please try again.
By clicking Sign Up!, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Penguin Random House Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and agree to receive news and updates from Read It Forward and Penguin Random House.
  • The cover of the book Monkeys

    Monkeys

    Susan Minot

    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon

    These are connected stories about seven siblings in upper class Catholic New England. The stories are spare and blade-sharp and a beautiful investigation of the weight of family expectations and history.

    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
     
  • The cover of the book Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty
    Featured Book

    Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty

    Ramona Ausubel

    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
     

About RAMONA AUSUBEL

RAMONA AUSUBEL is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of the novel No One Is Here Except All of Us and the short story collection A Guide to Being Born. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, One Story, The Paris Review Daily, Best American Fantasy, and elsewhere, and has received special mentions in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She has been longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award and the Pushcart Prize.

Read it Forward: Always Directing You To Your Next Great Read

At Read It Forward, we have a healthy obsession with authors, stories, and the readers who love them.

About Us
Affiliate Program Disclosure
Subscribe for Giveaways + Recommendations

Every week we host a new literary giveaway! Enter to win our favorite new reads, bookish goodies, and so much more.

Get weekly book recommendations delivered right to your inbox and find out What We’re Reading.

Subscribe to our Newsletters
Explore
  • Find your Next Book!
  • Essays and More
  • Author Interviews
  • Our Monthly Favorites

Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Copyright ©1995-2021 Penguin Random House. All rights reserved.

[email_signup id="4"]
Great! You've signed up successfully!
We are experiencing an error, please try again.
By clicking Subscribe, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Penguin Random House Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and agree to receive news and updates from Read It Forward and Penguin Random House.