The elderly couple in this fine novel, a retired schoolteacher and the doctor with whom she has had a lifelong, tender love affair, find that, almost by accident, they have forfeited control of their own lives. Trapped in a nursing home, they are the victims of the biblical "apostles of light," the deceitful do-gooders who profess righteousness. In subtle, elegant prose Ellen Douglas recounts a gripping story of their brave attempt to free themselves from a dreadful plight. They must confront both their corrupt and evil custodians and their well-meaning younger relatives who are tempted by...
The elderly couple in this fine novel, a retired schoolteacher and the doctor with whom she has had a lifelong, tender love affair, find that, almost ...
Nat Stonebridge is a thirtyish divorcee who, because of her sexy good looks and incorruptible disregard for convention, has stayed in trouble most of her life. Stranded at home in Philippi, a small town in the Mississippi Delta, after a divorce from her well-to-do husband, she is broke, bored, and unconcerned for anyone except herself. Looking for excitement, she becomes involved with Floyd Shotwell, the strange, solitary son of a rich and ruthless businessman.
By turns ironic and funny and threatening as the raw land in which it takes place, the couple's story moves toward a...
Nat Stonebridge is a thirtyish divorcee who, because of her sexy good looks and incorruptible disregard for convention, has stayed in trouble most ...
So spontaneous is the writing in A Lifetime Burning, one might believe these are indeed words of a woman desperately trying to understand what has happened to her life, beginning with the fact that her husband has stopped sleeping with her.
Why? Is there a rival--perhaps "The Toad," the unattractive housewife next door--or someone else, who will completely surprise the reader, as do many of the events of the protagonist's story? At age sixty-two, Corinne must grapple with the most painful truth that her lifelong passion--which is anyone's passion, to love and be loved,...
So spontaneous is the writing in A Lifetime Burning, one might believe these are indeed words of a woman desperately trying to understand wh...
This story of the modern South, of love denied and love fulfilled, is a powerful account of the potential for violence that underlies this country's passionate history. Ellen Douglas, a native of Mississippi and a prize-winning novelist of rare distinction, reveals the turbulent changes that rocked the South in the sixties and continue to this day.
No event is predictable in this powerful novel. A young man who has spent several years in the North returns to his native Mississippi seeking rural peace. But solitude is not to be his, for soon he is caught up again in a traumatic...
This story of the modern South, of love denied and love fulfilled, is a powerful account of the potential for violence that underlies this country'...
It is rare when a book this fine enters the world of contemporary American literature. The Boston Globe
Two women share a Mississippi household for fifteen years, rolling out piecrusts and making conversation. Cornelia is rich, white, and pampered, the mistress of the house, who oversees a seemingly perfect world of smooth surfaces and stubborn silence. Tweet, her housekeeper, is a poor, black, world-weary woman with a ghost-ridden past. As the years go by, Cornelia and Tweet each endure moments of uncertainty and despair; each, in her time of need, is rescued by the other....
It is rare when a book this fine enters the world of contemporary American literature. The Boston Globe
