Le Divorce - Hardcover

Johnson, Diane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525942386 ISBN 13: 9780525942382

Publisher: E P Dutton, 1997

Synopsis

When a pregnant Roxeanne Walker de Persand has her husband run out on her, her rough-edged sister, Isabel, comes to help her through this period as the powerful Persand family begins pushing for a divorce and control of a valuable Walker family heirloom.

About this title

Review:

"Stylish... refreshing... a genuinely wise and humane novel."--The New York Times Book Review

"A modern collision of French and American mores begins in near farce but ends in tragedy in Johnson's bright, unsparing novel... Johnson is especially good at catching the class-bound, cool, utter self- assurance of the French upper classes, and the determinedly frank, aggressive innocence of their American counterparts... A shrewd, carefully detailed portrait of the ways in which Americans and the French continue to romanticize, denigrate, and misapprehend each other, contained in a well-paced, believably dramatic narrative."--Kirkus Reviews

"Social comedy at its best."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"One savors each page... If one were to cross Jane Austen and Henry James, the result would be Diane Johnson."--San Francisco Chronicle

From the Back Cover:

Isabel Walker, a young, not-so-innocent American abroad, arrives in Paris to find that her sister's French husband ('the frog prince') has just walked out. While Isabel embarks on her own sentimental education - seduced by gourmet food, antiques, existentialism and an older man - her sister's marriage disintegrates into bitter Franco-American wrangles over money, titles and a mysterious painting. With a sharp tongue and an ironic eye for the foibles of the Parisian bourgeoisie, the French art world and American ex-patriots, Isabel is a collector of experience, even those she can't control.

About this edition

• Publisher: E P Dutton
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0525942386
• ISBN 13: 9780525942382
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 309