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After griping about most Kindle First selections for months (or not reading them at all) I began reading this with some skepticism. A couple chapters in, I discarded any reservations, utterly gripped by the story. This novel should get a Pulitzer, I think. It's been decades since I read The Grapes of Wrath, but this story of convoluted family relationships in the 1930's Dust Bowl is a worthy successor. There are no heroes or villains in this story, only deeply complex, wholly three-dimensional characters whose quirks bring a smile or an ache because we recognize ourselves in them. McNeal's main story covers a span of about a year and a half in Kansas and California, and to a lesser degree, Utah and New York. She handles the changes of scene, characters and viewpoints (of at least a half-dozen main characters) seamlessly, creating believable worlds especially in Kansas and California.I finished this novel with a sigh both of satisfaction and of loss. What a wonderful story! I will read it again, I am sure.Several people have remarked in their reviews that this novel is less about the Mormon church than they had expected. That is true. Perhaps this author will flesh out the lives of Elder Cooper and Elder Lance in a future novel. If she does, I will grab the chance to read it.Other reviewers have commented on the title of the novel. I, too, was a bit put off by "Practice House" as a title. It didn't help "sell" the novel, at least for me. Late in the novel, a character asks, "What is this Practice House?" and upon being told (it is a comprehensive home economics course at a California high school) concludes, "So this is where good girls learn to become good wives?...We should have these practice houses all over the country." Perhaps the novel's title compares all of life to a Practice House, and the theme is that life itself, even when it is at its most harsh, refines us. Life, therefore, is our curriculum.To my delight, I see that McNeal has written other novels. I will look forward to reading them. This novel I recommend without reservation.