nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;To eight-year old Bunny Morison, his mother is an angelic comforter in whose absence nothing is real or alive.nbsp; To his older brother, Robert, his mother is someone he must protect, especially since the deadly, influenza epidemic of 1918 is ravaging their small Midwestern town.nbsp; To James Morison, his wife, Elizabeth, is the center of a life that would disintegrate all too suddenly were she to disappear.nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Through the eyes of these characters, William Maxwell creates a sensitive portrait of an American family and of the complex woman who is its emotional pillar.nbsp; Beautifully observed, deftly rendering the civilities and constraints of a vanished era, They Came Like Swallows measures the subterranean currents of love and need that run through all our lives.nbsp; The result confirms Maxwell's reputation as one of the finest writers we have.