The Widows of Eastwick - Softcover

Updike, Professor John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345506979 ISBN 13: 9780345506979

Publisher: Random House Trade, 2009

Synopsis

More than three decades after the events described in The Witches of Eastwick, Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie--widowed, aging, and with their occult powers fading--return for the summer to the Rhode Island town where they once made piquant scandal and sometimes deadly mischief. But what was then a center of license and liberation is now a "haven of wholesomeness" populated by hockey moms and househusbands primly rebelling against their absent, reckless, self-involved parents. With spirits still free but energy waning, the three women reconstitute their coven to confront not only this youthful counterspell of propriety but also the enmity of those longtime townsfolk who, through their youthful witchery, they irreparably harmed. In this wise and wicked satire on the way we make peace with our pasts, John Updike proves himself a wizard on every page.

About this title

Review:

"Ingenious . . . This isn't writing. It is magic."--The New York Times Book Review

"Dazzling Updikean prose . . . Here's a bet his work will keep fresh for generations, inciting laughter, wonder and sensuous shivers."--Los Angeles Times

"An amusing romp . . . made unexpectedly moving by the author's profundity and his renowned dexterity with language . . . [Updike is a] master of making us want to guffaw and weep in the same sentence."--The Houston Chronicle

From the Back Cover:

'Updike is the master' Sunday Telegraph

'An awe-inspiring spectacle' Guardian

The spellbinding sequel to The Witches of Eastwick

More than three decades have passed since the witches of Eastwick - Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie - weaved their wicked spell on the sleepy Rhode Island town. Since then the three divorcées have left, remarried, and become widows. Meeting up again, they decide to go back to Eastwick one last time. But what enchantments will they find?

There may no longer be a diabolical Darryl Van Horne, but memory - as much as magic - continues to haunt the town. For among the familiar streets, where the witches enjoyed their status as free, lusty and empowered women, there are those who remember them, and wish them ill . . .

'There are too many delightful twists and surprises to give away. Vintage Updike' Sunday Herald

'Crammed with acute observation of the changes in the texture of American life and culture' Spectator

'Funny, yet also terrifying' Irish Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0345506979
• ISBN 13: 9780345506979
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320