Wit's End - Softcover

Fowler, Karen Joy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670917605 ISBN 13: 9780670917600

Publisher: Viking, 2008

Synopsis

An aging but still prolific and much read mystery writer brings her beloved goddaughter to live and work for her, hoping to heal the trauma she has recently suffered. As her secretary, the young woman handles her correspondence, including the many letters addressed to her fictional detective. One such arrives asking for her help. Answering that letter will involve the young woman in a contemporary mystery and this is one of the plot lines of the novel. But the heart of the book is a love triangle, a struggle between two women who are both in love with the same fictional man. A mystery, a love story - but as well, a meditation on the role of fiction in our lives. Not too far removed from the themes of her best-selling the Jane Austen Book Club.

About this title

Review:

Priase for The Jane Austen Book Club:

Fowler's light touch and sly wit are a delight (Sunday Times)

Very funny (Daily Telegraph)

We defy you not to fall head over heels for this lovely novel (Mail on Sunday)

Stylish, homely and deeply comforting (The Times)

This wonderful novel shows how some books enter our bloodstream (Independent)

Exquisite. It's that rare book that reminds us what reading is all about (The New York Times Book Review)

If I could eat this nove, I would (Alice Sebold)

From the Back Cover:

'Fowler's light touch and sly wit are a delight' Sunday Times

A young woman's search for
the truth about her father's past . . .

When Rima Lanisell loses her father to cancer, her godmother Addison's Californian seaside mansion provides a strange and fascinating refuge. Not only is Addison's place littered with dolls' houses replicating the murder scenes from her world-famous mystery novels, but it is also home to one or two misfits. There's Tilda, the New Age former alcoholic; her ne'er-do-well son, Martin; Addison, herself, who was once close to Rima's father. And lurking somewhere in their midst is the imaginary detective - Maxwell Lane - who has a spellbinding appeal for his many, obsessive fans.

As Rima comes to terms with her grief and tries to understand the relationship between Addison and her father, so she and her new housemates become involved in a mystery of their own . . .

'Bravely sad and gravely funny' Daily Mail

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0670917605
• ISBN 13: 9780670917600
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352