A Spool of Blue Thread, Tyler's 20th novel, wears its domesticity proudly on its sleeve (or make that jacket). Once again, her focus is on the relationships between various members of a Baltimore ...

The characters in "A Spool of Blue Thread" look like the same Baltimore family members we've socialized with for 50 years in Anne Tyler's fiction. In fact, everything about her new novel — from ...

rolled over it like a conveyor belt instead of a regular spool of thread. And unlike a regular spool, that fabric isn't made up of just one color but holds 36 colors, each 1 3/4 in length.