Tales from the Town of Widows

Tales from the Town of Widows
Author: James Canon
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061865567

In the small Colombian mountain village of Mariquita, a band of guerrillas storms in to protest the country's ruling government. They arrive with propaganda and guns, and when they depart they have forcibly recruited all the town's men, leaving behind only a few—the priest and a young, fair-skinned boy disguised as a little girl. In their wake, Mariquita becomes a sinking wasteland filled with women who quickly resign themselves to food shortages, littered streets, and mourning. Without men, life is hopeless, and getting along, nearly impossible. But, Rosalba viuda de Patiño, wife of the former police sergeant, sees a different fate for the town of widows. She declares herself magistrate and promises to instill law and order while restoring the failing economy and infrastructure. Reluctantly, the women agree to join forces. A utopia emerges, one that ironically resembles the ideal society the guerrilla group claims to promote. Deft, rich, and darkly humorous, Tales from the Town of Widows is a captivating exploration of gender and sexuality that uses the ongoing conflict in Colombia as a backdrop. It presents a fascinating portrait of ill-fated wives and the war that helped them build a peaceful, equality-based society. Exquisitely wrought, remarkably original, James Cañón's stunning debut marks the arrival of an unforgettable new literary talent.

Street of Widows

Street of Widows
Author: Cassie Fancher
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021-10-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781950584017

You move away, but spend whole days thinking of your hometown. Up the hill, past the gravel pit, an Elvis impersonator is leaning on his parked car. On Memorial Day, you put flowers on your great grandmother's grave and spend an afternoon wondering about her life. In your sister's first apartment, there are terrible figures drawn on the walls with Sharpies. You take a figure drawing class and the model, a skinny blonde woman, opens her mail and cries while you draw her. You learn that your great grandmother was a widow, that her town was a community of widows, a whole street renamed in their honor: La Strada Delle Vedove, the Street of Widows. In Cassie Fancher's debut collection of stories, small town American women navigate grief and loss. Piecing together images from her own life, Cassie creates stories that prioritize not the trauma itself but the relationships these women find in order to survive. This collection, and the characters within, consider home from afar, from close up, from the past and the present.

The Widower's Tale

The Widower's Tale
Author: Julia Glass
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2011-07-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307456102

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Three Junes: Seventy-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement—reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. But his routines are disrupted when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As Percy sees his rural refuge overrun by children, parents, and teachers, he must reexamine the solitary life he has made in the three decades since the sudden death of his wife. With equal parts affection and humor, Julia Glass spins a captivating tale about a man who can no longer remain aloof from his community, his two grown daughters, or—to his great shock—the precarious joy of falling in love.

The Widows

The Widows
Author: Jess Montgomery
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2019-01-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250184533

“The Widows kept me on the edge of my seat. Montgomery is a masterful storyteller.” —Lee Martin, author of Pulitzer Prize-Finalist The Bright Forever Inspired by the true story of Ohio’s first female sheriff, Jess Montgomery’s powerful, lyrical debut is the story of two women who take on murder and corruption at the heart of their community. Kinship, Ohio, 1924: When Lily Ross learns that her husband, Daniel, the town’s widely respected sheriff, has been killed while transporting a prisoner in an apparent accident, she vows to seek the truth about his death. Hours after his funeral, a stranger appears at her door. Marvena Whitcomb, a coal miner’s widow, is unaware that Daniel has died and begs to speak with him about her missing daughter. From miles away but worlds apart, Lily’s and Marvena’s lives collide as they realize that Daniel was perhaps not the man that either of them believed him to be. *BONUS CONTENT: This edition of The Widows includes a new introduction from the author and a discussion guide "The Widows is a gripping, beautifully written novel about two women avenging the murder of the man they both loved."—Hallie Ephron, New York Times bestselling author of You'll Never Know, Dear "Jess Montgomery's gorgeous writing can be just as dark and terrifying as a subterranean cave when the candle is snuffed out, but her prose can just as easily lead you to the surface for a gasp of air and a glimpse of blinding, beautiful sunlight. This is a powerful novel: a tale of loss, greed, and violence, and the story of two powerful women who refuse to stand down."—Wiley Cash, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy "[A] flinty, heartfelt mystery that sings of hawks and history, of coal mines and the urgent fight for social justice."—Julia Keller, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bone on Bone

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
Author: Allan Gurganus
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 737
Release: 2010-09-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307764117

Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and readers alike fell in love with the voice of ninety-nine-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the twentieth century, when she was fifteen and her husband was fifty. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence," Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood. Lucy’s story encompasses everything from the tragic death of a Confederate boy soldier to the feisty narrator's daily battles in the Home--complete with visits from a mohawk-coiffed candy striper. Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All is a marvel of narrative showmanship and proof that brilliant, emotional storytelling remains at the heart of great fiction.

The Last Days of Dogtown

The Last Days of Dogtown
Author: Anita Diamant
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2007-03-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1416556834

“An excellent novel. A lovely and moving portrait of society’s outcasts…affirms the essential humanity of its poor and stubborn residents, for whom each day of survival is a victory” (The New York Times Book Review). Set on the high ground at the heart of Cape Ann, the village of Dogtown is peopled by widows, orphans, spinsters, scoundrels, whores, free Africans, and “witches.” Among the inhabitants of this hamlet are Black Ruth, who dresses as a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, an imperious madam whose grandson, Sammy, comes of age in her brothel; Oliver Younger, who survives a miserable childhood at the hands of his aunt; and Cornelius Finson, a freed slave. At the center of it all is Judy Rhines, a fiercely independent soul, deeply lonely, who nonetheless builds a life for herself against all imaginable odds. Rendered in stunning, haunting detail, with Anita Diamant’s keen ear for language and profound compassion for her characters, The Last Days of Dogtown is an extraordinary retelling of a long-forgotten chapter of early American life.