This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! - Softcover

Evison, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099592665 ISBN 13: 9780099592662

Publisher: Windmill Books, 2015

Synopsis

'As sweet as it is inventive, profound as it is hilarious, unflinching as it is big-hearted.' Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? With Bernard, her husband of fifty-five years now in the grave, seventy-eight-year-old Harriet Chance impulsively sets sail on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise that her late husband had planned. But what she hoped would be a voyage leading to a new lease of life becomes a surprising and revelatory journey into Harriet's past. There, amid the buffets and lounge singers, between the imagined appearances of her late husband and the very real arrival of her estranged daughter mid-way through the cruise, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life. And in the process she discovers that she's been living the better part of that life under entirely false assumptions. Part-dysfunctional love story, part exploration of the relationship between mothers and daughters, nothing is what it seems in this charming tale of what it truly means to begin again.

About this title

Review:

"As sweet as it is inventive, profound as it is hilarious, unflinching as it is big-hearted." (Maria Semple)

"A terrific novel, funny and moving, wistful and wise. Evison's writing crackles on the page." (Jess Walter)

"Evison is a ridiculously gifted storyteller ... an irresistible, inventive novel full of important ideas about how we live our lives as parents, children, partners, and human beings." (Jami Attenberg)

"A gifted raconteur with a wicked sense of humor and an unflagging empathy for humankind in all its sad, foible-filled magnificence." (Patrick DeWitt)

"Told through flashbacks, the novel is adeptly narrated by a third-person figure...This wistful story is a charming read about life, love and mother-daughter relationships!" (i (Independent))

Book Description:

A funny and heartwarming read, Jonathan Evison has completely captured the heart and mind of a very special almost-octogenarian, perfect for fans of Jonas Jonasson and Maria Semple.

About this edition

• Publisher: Windmill Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0099592665
• ISBN 13: 9780099592662
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304