Awards
National Book Award Finalist
Synopses & Reviews
From the New York Times bestselling author of Le Divorce, a dazzling meditation on the mysteries of the and#147;wispy but materialand#8221; family ghosts who shape us
Growing up in the small river town of Moline, Illinois, Diane Johnson always dreamed of floating down the Mississippi and off to see the world. Years later, at home in France, a French friend teases her: and#147;Indifference to historyand#151;thatand#8217;s why you Americans seem so naand#239;ve and donand#8217;t really know where youand#8217;re from.and#8221;
The jand#8217;accuse stayed with Johnson. Were Americans indifferent to history? Her own family seemed always to have been in the Midwest. Surely they had got there from somewhere? In digging around, she discovers letters and memoirs written by generations of stalwart pioneer ancestors that testify to more complex times than the derisive nickname and#147;The Flyoverand#8221; gives the region credit for.
With the acuity and sympathy that her novels are known for, she captures the magnetic pull of home against our lust for escape and self-invention. This spellbinding memoir will appeal to fans of Bill Bryson, Patricia Hampl, and Annie Dillard.
Review
"An excellently observed social and moral comedy....Diane Johnson treads very consciously and cleverly across the ancient and hallowed turf of the 'international novel'...a fresh burst of wonder." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"A modern collision of French and American mores begins in near farce but ends in tragedy in Johnson's bright, unsparing novel....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
Review
"It's hard to sympathize with any of the heartless characters profiled in this complex morality tale, in which everyone is, to some degree, corrupt. Nonetheless, Johnson seems to be having a great deal of nasty fun satirizing both American and French cultures....Cold and clever." Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist
Review
"An entertaining mix of circumstance....Diane Johnson is a smart and skillful novelist." The Washington Post
Synopsis
Soon to be a major motion picture from Merchant Ivory productions starring Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson!
Called "stylish...refreshing...genuinely wise" by The New York Times Book Review, Diane Johnson’s Le Divorce has delighted readers since its publication in 1997.
This delightful comedy of manners and morals, money, marriage, and murder follows smart, sexy, and impeccably dressed American Isabel Walker as she lands in Paris to visit her stepsister Roxy, a poet whose marriage to an aristocratic French painter has assured her a coveted place in Parisian society...until her husband leaves her for the wife of an American lawyer. Could "le divorce" be far behind? Can irrepressible Isabel keep her perspective (and her love life) intact as cultures and human passions collide? "Social comedy at its best" (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Le Divorce is Diane Johnson at her most scintillating and sublime.
Synopsis
Soon to be a major motion picture from Merchant Ivory productions starring Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson
Called "stylish...refreshing...genuinely wise" by The New York Times Book Review, Diane Johnson s Le Divorce has delighted readers since its publication in 1997.
This delightful comedy of manners and morals, money, marriage, and murder follows smart, sexy, and impeccably dressed American Isabel Walker as she lands in Paris to visit her stepsister Roxy, a poet whose marriage to an aristocratic French painter has assured her a coveted place in Parisian society...until her husband leaves her for the wife of an American lawyer. Could "le divorce" be far behind? Can irrepressible Isabel keep her perspective (and her love life) intact as cultures and human passions collide? "Social comedy at its best" (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Le Divorce is Diane Johnson at her most scintillating and sublime.
"
Synopsis
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
"If one were to cross Jane Austen and Henry James, the result would be Diane Johnson."--San Francisco Chronicle
The national bestseller and inspiration for the major motion picture starring Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson
Called "stylish... refreshing... genuinely wise" by The New York Times Book Review, this delightful comedy of manners and morals, money, marriage, and murder follows smart, sexy, and impeccably dressed American Isabel Walker as she lands in Paris to visit her stepsister Roxy, a poet whose marriage to an aristocratic French painter has assured her a coveted place in Parisian society--until her husband leaves her for the wife of an American lawyer. Could "le divorce" be far behind? Can irrepressible Isabel keep her perspective (and her love life) intact as cultures and human passions collide?
"Social comedy at its best" (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Le Divorce is Diane Johnson at her most scintillating and sublime.
Synopsis
Imagine the heroine of Henry James's
The Portrait of a Lady sporting a stylish haircut, miniskirt, and sunglasses, and you have Isabel Walker, the irresistible heroine of Diane Johnson's incandescent novel.
Le Divorce follows this smart, sexy American abroad as she arrives in Paris to visit her stepsister Roxy, a poet whose marriage into an aristocratic French family has assured her of a coveted place in Parisian society. But all is not as it should be in the Persand household: Roxy's husband has just left her for the Czechoslovakian wife of an American lawyer. Could "le divorce" be far behind?
Here is the bestselling novel hailed by critics and readers alike a delightful comedy of manners and morals, money, marriage, and murder, as wickedly funny as it is deeply insightful. As lingering as a French kiss, Le Divorce is Diane Johnson at her most sublime.
Synopsis
Le Divorce meets The Elegance of the Hedgehog in this hilariously entertaining mega-bestseller from France When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress,
Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of twoconfident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoéis forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphines charismatic sister Iris seems to have it alla wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris addressbut she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life. When Iris charms a famous publisher into offering her a lucrative deal for a twelfth-century romance, she offers her sister a deal of her own: Joséphine will write the novel and pocket all the proceeds, but the book will be published under Iriss name. All is wellthat is, until the book becomes the literary sensation of the season.
Synopsis
Le Divorce meets The Elegance of the Hedgehog in this hilariously entertaining mega-bestseller from France
When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of twoconfident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoéis forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphines charismatic sister Iris seems to have it alla wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris addressbut she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life. When Iris charms a famous publisher into offering her a lucrative deal for a twelfth-century romance, she offers her sister a deal of her own: Joséphine will write the novel and pocket all the proceeds, but the book will be published under Iriss name. All is wellthat is, until the book becomes the literary sensation of the season.
Synopsis
and#147;[A] vivid . . . quest for roots. . . . Splendid.and#8221;
and#151;The New York Times Book Review
and#160;
Growing up in the small river town of Moline, Illinois, Diane Johnson always dreamed of venturing off to see the worldand#151;and did. Now having traveled widely and lived part-time in Paris for many years, she is stung when a French friend teases her about Americansand#8217; indifference to history. and#160;Could it be true? The jand#8217;accuse haunts Diane and inspires her to dig into her familyand#8217;s past, working back from the Friday night football of her youth to the adventures illuminated in the letters and memoirs of her stalwart pioneer ancestorsand#151;beginning with a lonely young soldier who came to America from France in 1711.
and#160;
As enchanting as her bestselling novels, Flyover Lives is a moving examination of identity and the and#147;wispy but materialand#8221; family ghosts who shape us. As Johnson pays tribute to her deep Midwestern roots, she captures the perpetual tug-of-war between the magnetic pull of home and our lust for escape and self-invention.
About the Author
Diane Johnson is an American-born novelist and essayist. A two-time finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in three different genresand#151;essay, biography, and fictionand#151;she is the author of a dozen novels, including Le Divorce, Le Mariage, and Land#8217;Affaire. Here she returns to the mode of her classic biography, Lesser Lives. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and splits her time between San Francisco and Paris.