The Crazyladies Of Pearl Street: A Novel - Hardcover

Trevanian

3.73

3,102 ratings by Goodreads

9780375434952: The Crazyladies Of Pearl Street: A Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037543495X ISBN 13: 9780375434952

Publisher: Books on Tape, 2005

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Legendary writer Trevanian brings readers his most personal novel yet: a funny, deeply felt, often touching autobiographical novel destined to become a classic American coming-of-age story.The place is Albany, New York. The year is 1936. Six-year-old Jean-Luc LaPointe, his little sister, and their spirited but vulnerable young mother have been abandonedagainby his father, a charmer and a con artist. With no * and no family willing to take them in, the LaPointes manage to create a fragile nest at 238 North Pearl Street. For the next eight years, through the Great Depression and Second World War, they live in the heart of the Irish slum, with its ward heelers, unemployment, and grinding poverty. As Jean-Luc discovers, its a neighborhood of crazyladies: Miss Cox, the feared and ridiculed teacher who ignites his imagination; Mrs. Kane, who runs a beauty parlor/fortune-telling salon in the back of her husbands grocery store; Mrs. Meehan, the desperate, harried matriarch of a thuggish family across the street; lonely Mrs. McGivney, who spends every day tending to her catatonic husband, a veteran of the Great War; and Jean-Lucs own unconventional, vivacious mother.Jean-Luc is a voracious reader who never stops dreaming of a way out of the slum. He gradually takes on responsibility for the familys survival with a mix of bravery and resentment while his mom turns from spells of illness and depression to eager planning for the day when our * will come in. Its a heartfelt and unforgettable look back at one childs life in the 1930s and 40s, a story that will be remembered long after the last page is turned.Look for these Trevanian classics from Three Rivers Press: Shibumi, The Eiger Sanction, The Loo Sanction, The Summer of Katya, and The Main.From the Hardcover edition.

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Review:

'Literary time travel... America was made by people like this.' --Washington Post

About the Author:

Trevanian lives in the French Basque region. He is the author of Shibumi, The Eiger Sanction, The Loo Sanction, The Main, The Summer of Katya, Incident at Twenty-Mile, and Hot Night in the City. Visit trevanian.com for the Crazyladies cybernotes, Trevanian's commentaries, items from the author's desk, and more.

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