Winchester

Winchester the wealthy, majority-white suburb of Boston in which the author grew up. She describes it as a "leafy green, pond- and lake-filled area north of the city" (7). Irving's family lived in a six-bedroom Tudor style house and they belonged to the Winchester Country Club and Winchester Boat Club where they regularly played sports and socialized with other families. In the book's final chapter, Irving recalls her father wrestling with the question of whether or not a Jewish family should be permitted to join the country club—a disturbing reminder of the discriminatory practices in effect at this time. In Chapter 14, Irving recalls meeting a black woman that recognized her name and said she attended high school with her sister. Irving was shocked that there had been even a single black family in Winchester during her childhood, and the woman explained that many black families had once...