Nine Women; Short Stories
Anthony Russo Franklin Center, PA: The Franklin Library, 1986. Signed Limited First Edition [published by special arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.]. Leather bound. [14], 204 pages. Illustrations. Signed by the author on an fep. Features blue leather boards with gilt designs on cover and gilt lettering, designs and three raised bands along spine; 3 gilt edges; ribbon. Dear Collector letter laid in, and states: In her new book, Nine Women, nine exquisitely crafted stories introduce us to characters of very different backgrounds and temperaments. These are tales of love, of family relationships, of the struggle for dignity, both in the midst of poverty and among the country-club set. Ms. Grau expresses her large themes through everyday occurrences in the livers of women. The short stories are titled: The Beginning, Hunter, Letting Go, Widow's Walk, Housekeeper, Ending, Summer Shore, Home, and Flight. Shirley Ann Grau (July 8, 1929 – August 3, 2020) was an American writer. Born in New Orleans, she lived part of her childhood in Montgomery, Alabama. Her novels are set primarily in the Deep South and explore issues of race and gender. In 1965 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for her novel The Keepers of the House, set in a fictional Alabama town. Grau's writing explores issues of death, destruction, abortion, and miscegenation, frequently set in historical Alabama[9] or Louisiana. Although she did not restrict her writing to the Deep South or to stories about women, she is recognized as an important writer in the fields of women's studies, feminist literature, and Southern literature. A “luminescent” collection of stories about nine Southern women from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Keepers of the House (The New York Times). The nine namesake women of this collection come from widely disparate worlds, from isolated bayou towns to New Orleans high society. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Grau's books are always an occasion for celebration. The nine stories in this new collection, all with a woman as their central character, confirm her as a writer of keen psychological insight and luminously resonating prose. Grau's sensibility has an amazing range: outside of the Southern heritage they share, her women inhabit different social, economic and cultural worlds. ""Hunter'' concerns the only survivor of a plane crash that kills her family, who thereafter pursues her own surcease. Marvelously restrained, with every word polished to a burning clarity, the story engulfs and mesmerizes the reader. In ``Ending,'' the wedding of the daughter of an affluent black couple signals the dissolution of their marriage and exposes the disillusion that has eroded their upwardly mobile lives. Perfect in pitch and tone, ``Home'' captures an emotional confrontation between two women who are lovers, but ends in a reaffirmation of their vital connection. Grau's gently ironic sympathy permeates these tales. The forces that tether people to responsibilities, to rituals and traditions, to family loyalties, and, most tellingly, to life, are gracefully illumined. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Beginning, Hunter, Letting Go, Widow's Walk, Housekeeper, Ending, Summer Shore, Home, Flight, Short Stories, Gender Studies, Feminism, Women
[Book #85573]
Price: $125.00