Synopses & Reviews
Like a loyal victorian wife, Jenny has devoted her life to her much older husband, the famous writer and naturalist Wilkie Walker, bringing up their children and researching and editing his best-selling books. But this year, as winter approaches, Wilkie is increasingly depressed and withdrawn. At her wit's, Jenny persuades him to visit Key West, the Last Resort. Within weeks of their arrival Jenny not only has a part-time job but is becoming involved with assorted local characters, including Gerry, an ex-beatnik poet, and Lee, the dramatically attractive manager of a women-only guesthouse. Wilkie, meanwhile, is planning his own "accidental" death by drowning-a task that turns out to be more difficult than he thought-and trying to avoid the attentions of a breathless young female fan.
Review
"One of this country's most able and witty novelists." (The New York Times Book Review)
Review
"A sparkling, smart new novel." --Francine Prose,
The New York Times Book Review"Highly entertaining . . . Lurie not only retains a firm grip on her well-mapped territory of not-quite-ordered middle-class lives, but also briskly grinds her fine comic talents." --The Miami Herald
About the Author
Alison Lurie is the author of many highly praised novels including
The War Between the Tates,
The Truth About Lorin Jones (Prix Femina Estranger, 1989), and
Foreign Affairs (1985 Pulitzer Prize for fiction). She currently divides her time between Ithaca, Key West, and London.