The Widow's Children: A Novel - Softcover

Fox, Paula

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393319636 ISBN 13: 9780393319637

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999

Synopsis

"Chekhovian . . . . Every line of Fox's story, every gesture of her characters, is alive and surprising" Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times On the eve of their trip to Africa, Laura Maldonada Clapper and her husband, Desmond, sit in a New York City hotel room, drinking scotch-and-sodas and awaiting the arrival of three friends: Clara Hansen, Laura's timid, brow-beaten daughter from a previous marriage; Carlos, Laura's flamboyant and charming brother; and Peter Rice, a melancholy editor whom Laura hasn't seen for over a year. But what begins as a bon voyage party soon parlays into a bitter, claustrophobic clash of family resentment. From the hotel room to the tony restaurant to which the five embark, Laura presides over the escalating innuendo and hostility with imperial cruelty, for she is hiding the knowledge that her mother, the family matriarch, has died of a heart attack that morning. A novel as intense as it is unerringly observed, The Widow's Children is another revelation of the storyteller's art from the incomparable Paula Fox. "It is the most elegant exploration I have read of the chaos of modern life. . . . There is something marvelously honorable in Fox's work" Edith Milton, The Nation "A splendid novel. . . . A work of marvelous design and subtle synchronization" Kirkus Reviews

About this title

Review:

A splendid novel...A work of marvelous design and subtle synchronization.

Synopsis:

An evening dining out with the family in New York City escalates into a feast of vicious innuendo and subtle cruelty for Laura Maldonado Clapper, her husband, her browbeaten daughter, her flamboyant brother, and an editor she has not seen in over a year.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0393319636
• ISBN 13: 9780393319637
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240