Preview of Marya: A Life Summary:

One of Oates's most autobiographical novels, Marya traces the journey of the child Marya from her origins in the communities of Innisfail and Shaheen Falls in upstate New York to successful academic career, and a career as translator at the international level, and finally, back home as she decides to search for the alcoholic mother who abandoned her to a paternal aunt and uncle after her father was murdered...