'The beautiful irony of "Happenstance" is that its novels are both bound together and held apart by the strength of the marriage they describe.' Rupert Christiansen, Harpers and Queen These companion novels - by turns touching, compassionate and humorous - tell the stories of Jack and Brenda Bowman. In all the years of their marriage they have hardly ever been apart. In 'The Wife's Story', Brenda, now forty-years-old, and who has been surprised to discover a source of creative energy, is about to spend a ...
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'The beautiful irony of "Happenstance" is that its novels are both bound together and held apart by the strength of the marriage they describe.' Rupert Christiansen, Harpers and Queen These companion novels - by turns touching, compassionate and humorous - tell the stories of Jack and Brenda Bowman. In all the years of their marriage they have hardly ever been apart. In 'The Wife's Story', Brenda, now forty-years-old, and who has been surprised to discover a source of creative energy, is about to spend a week away from their home in a Chicago suburb to attend a craft convention in Philadelphia. It is her first trip alone. Removed from her familiar environment, all the gathering emotions that have unsettled her life over the last few years are focused and bring her to a crisis. Brenda is vulnerable in a strange city. She is also ready to grasp whatever experiences come her way. In 'The Husband's Story', back in Chicago, Jack faces his own crisis. It is the first time he has been left to cope on his own. He is immobilised by self-doubt, beginning to question his worth and the value of his work as a historian. Suddenly, in that one week, his world falls apart. He has to deal with an attempted suicide, a marital breakdown and, not least, their two difficult children. In the process, he manages to work out his feelings and to learn something about himself.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. Book First Printing. A couple of lihgty rubbed corners, else fine. Author of THE STONE DIARIES which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Appears never read.
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Seller's Description:
pp. 216., 8vo, Rear board creased, else in very good condition in original unclipped dust jacket which shows only very light edge wear. With publisher's reveiwer presentation bookplate laid down on front free endpaper. ISBN 0070923779.
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Seller's Description:
1st Edition. 216pp. Octavo. Original black coated cloth with gilt lettering on spine. An old library copy with tape marks on cover. Front free endpaper missing and discarded stamps on first page and bookmobile stamp on title page as well as on back endpapers. In illustrated dust jacket (not price clipped) with minor wear on edges by spine. A very nice copy. Signed by Carold Shields on front title page. Author of the Governor General's Award winning "The Stone Diaries", Carol Shields is a American-born, Canadian author who has been critically heralded throughout her career.