The Condition - Hardcover
A stunning and thought-provoking portrayal of a family idyll and its seemingly inevitable and painful disintegration from the award winning novelist Jennifer Haigh The house by the sea held sepia-tinted family memories tight within its walls. Once a year it was dusted down, its windows flung open, the sound of laughter echoed throughout its rooms; this was the rhythm of family life. All that is about to change. When Gwen, the youngest child, is diagnosed with Turner's Syndrome, the family knows that her body will never grow to adulthood. Frank her scientist fascinated by the disease, while Paulette her mother is horrified. As they struggle to cope with the ramifications of Gwen's illness, her parents see the cracks within their marriage widen irreparably. Equally affected are their sons; one a successful lawyer in denial about who he is, the other whose search for himself and his need for his parents' approval has only resulted in a series of dead ends.
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Review:
Praise for Jennifer Haigh and her previous work: "Her talent is stunning...The question is not whether Jennifer Haigh might turn out to be a good writer. Rather, we have the intriguing possibility that the great American author is already in print." Fort Worth Star-Telegram "A novelist who can really tell a story...we're in the hands of a master, one who fully subscribes to what author Alice Mattison describes as the opportunity to give fiction a chance to mean something. Haigh writes from her soul." Milwaukee Journal Sentinal "Haigh's writing is rich and mellifluous." The Times
Synopsis:
A year in the life of the members of the divided McKinnon family, revealing their secrets and their conflicts. The Condition explores one turbulent year in the lives of the McKotches,a New England family in extremis. Paulette and Frank McKotch,long divorced,hide a mountain of old grievances from their three adult children who are busy with crises of their own. Billy, the eldest, is a successful Manhatten cardiologist living a double life. Scott the youngest, has made an endless series of wrong turns. And Gwen, the daughter, lives a hermitic life far away from her parents.The family attributes her reclusive temprement to her Turner's syndrome, a chromosomal disorder that has left her with the stature and physical maturity of an eleven year old child. From the day it was diagnosed, Gwen's condition has caused an explosive disagreement between her parents. Frank is fascinated by the clinical manifestations of Turner's-a scientific interest that horrifies Paulette, who sees Gwen's condition as nothing short of calamity. As Christmas 1997 approaches, Frank,a prominent medical researcher, is on the brink of a big discovery when an old rival reappears.Billy's secret life implodes, and Scott becomes obsessed with roads not taken.And Gwen, in her thirties,falls in love for the first time,a developement the whole family views with alarm. The Condition looks at the power of science and its profound limitations, the determining reality of biology and the power of individual will. Mostly, though,it is a story about parents and children and siblings: the people we love but didn't chose-and in many cases,wouldn't have;the complex and bewildering web of loyalties and resentments that take a lifetime to form.
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- PublisherHarperCollins Publishers Ltd
- Publication date2008
- ISBN 10 0007225067
- ISBN 13 9780007225064
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages320
- Rating
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