''Blood Tie'' is a 1977 novel by American novelist

Mary Lee Settle Mary Lee Settle (July 29, 1918 – September 27, 2005) was an American writer. She won the 1978 National Book Award for her novel '' Blood Tie''.''Blood_Tie''(1977)._This_novel,_which_received_the_National_Book_Award_in_1978,_deals_with_America ...

, published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

. The novel, her eighth, won the 1978

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...

. With the award, Settle became the fourth woman to win the NBA in fiction out of 32 winners. The novel explores the going-ons of expatriates in a hotel in

Ceramos Ceramus or Keramos ( grc, Κέραμος) is a city on the north coast of the Ceramic Gulf—named after this city—in ancient Caria, in southwest Asia Minor; its ruins can be found outside the modern village of Ören, Muğla Province, T ...

on the Turkish coast. The characters in the novel are generally unlikable, and their foibles become the central focus of the novel's plot. Settle wrote the novel after returning to West Virginia, from time abroad, first in England then Italy.

Reception

Though initial reception of the novel was less than positive, Settle won the National Book Award and critical consensus treats the novel as a turning point in her critical reception. ''The New York Times'' was generally positive about the book, writing that Settle "has done a remarkable job of capturing the xpatriateculture that is, in a sense, the most important character in her book." George Garret in the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' called the novel "clearly a virtuoso work."

References

1977 American novels National Book Award for Fiction winning works Novels set in Turkey Houghton Mifflin books {{US-novel-stub