Jan 1, 2010

Jacob Have I Loved | Setting

The novel begins in the late 1930s on Rass Island in the Chesapeake Bay, where thirteen-year-old Louise lives in the town of Rass. As the novel follows Louise into young adulthood, the setting shifts from Rass to the University of Maryland, where Louise briefly attends school, to Truitt, an Appalachian town in West Virginia, where Louise practices midwifery and meets her future husband. The novel spans more than a decade, moving from the pre-World War II era into the 1950s.

Paterson establishes the significance of her Chesapeake Bay setting by opening the book with a preface...