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Willem's Field by Melinda Haynes

Willem's Field is set in 1974, when facing old age and suffering from panic attacks most of his life, Willem Fremont makes his way back to his family's land in Purvis, Mississippi that he left more than 50 years ago. The Till family now owns the land. Eileen is a mother of two grown boys and feigns deafness so she can alternately ignore them and yell at them. Sonny is a shiftless, obese man who lives with his mom and works hard to avoid work. Bruno is a disabled Vietnam veteran whose marriage to Leah is on its last legs. Leah is the one running the farm. Melinda Haynes story of Willem and this idiosyncratic family attempts to find meaning in their lives and reconciliation with another has received mostly positive reviews. The Miami Herald says of Willem's Field, "Much of the delight of the book lies in the unexpected, Haynes' vivid imagination and the skill with which the author absorbs us into this highly unusual, crazy world."