The Obituary Writer

Hood, Ann

ISBN 10: 1470842750 ISBN 13: 9781470842758

Publisher: Blackstone Pub, 2013

Synopsis

On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, a young wife and mother obsessed with the glamour of Jackie, struggles over whether to stay in a loveless but secure marriage or to follow the man she loves and whose baby she may be carrying. Decades earlier in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover who disappeared in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. By telling the stories of the dead, Vivien not only helps others cope with their grief but also begins to understand the devastation of her own terrible loss. The surprising connection between these two women will change Claire's life in extraordinary ways.

About this title

Product Description:

An obituary writer searching for her missing lover at the turn of the twentieth century is linked to a woman considering leaving her loveless marriage in 1963.

Review:

The Obituary Writer is a really engrossing book, drawing you in literally from page one. Using well-chosen and grounding details... Ann Hood gives us two women from very different time periods who share similar struggles in understanding aspects of love and grief. One of the things I admire most about this graceful and intimate writer is her literary sleight of hand: you don't so much read about her characters as you inhabit them. Reading this book, I felt acutely the sadness of loss, the deliciousness of gossip among a group of women friends, the frustration of miscommunication in marriage, the joys of sensuality. Creating such empathy on the part of a reader isn't easy: Ann Hood just makes it look that way. That's a gift, and we readers are the lucky recipients. --Elizabeth Berg author of "The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted" and "Tapestry of Fortunes"

The Obituary Writer is an engrossing book, drawing you in from page one. I admire this graceful and intimate writer for her literary sleight of hand: you don t so much read about her characters as you inhabit them. Reading this book, I felt acutely the sadness of loss, the deliciousness of gossip among a group of women friends, the frustration of miscommunication in marriage, the joys of sensuality. Creating such empathy on the part of a reader isn t easy: Ann Hood just makes it look that way. That s a gift, and we readers are the lucky recipients. --Elizabeth Berg author of The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Tapestry of Fortunes"

It is a rare novelist who can summon the creative nerve to plumb the depths of grief, but that's just what Ann Hood does here with such compassion and grace. The Obituary Writer is an unflinching exploration of loss and the love that somehow remains, one that both wounds and heals. This is a deeply engaging and moving book. --Andre Dubus III, author of Townie"

In this poignant and incisive novel, Ann Hood brings history back to life in the most intimate way, chronicling the love affairs and heartbreaks of two very different women in two very different times. Moving gracefully and persuasively between post-earthquake San Francisco and the early 1960s, The Obituary Writer makes unexpected connections between these two bygone eras, and in the process, manages to illuminate the present as well as the past. --Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers"

The Obituary Writer is an engrossing book, drawing you in from page one. I admire this graceful and intimate writer for her literary sleight of hand: you don't so much read about her characters as you inhabit them. Reading this book, I felt acutely the sadness of loss, the deliciousness of gossip among a group of women friends, the frustration of miscommunication in marriage, the joys of sensuality. Creating such empathy on the part of a reader isn't easy: Ann Hood just makes it look that way. That's a gift, and we readers are the lucky recipients. --Elizabeth Berg author of The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted and Tapestry of Fortunes

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Pub
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1470842750
• ISBN 13: 9781470842758
• Binding: Audio CD