{"product_id":"a-widow-for-one-year-9780345424716","title":"A Widow for One Year","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eA Widow For One Year\u003c\/i\u003e will appeal to readers who like old-fashioned storytelling mixed with modern sensitivities. . . . Irving is among the few novelists who can write a novel about grief and fill it with ribald humor soaked in irony.\"--\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Widow for One Year, \u003c\/i\u003e we follow Ruth Cole through three of the most pivotal times in her life: from her girlhood on Long Island (in the summer of 1958) through the fall of 1990 (when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career), and at last in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother (and she's about to fall in love for the first time). Both elegiac and sensual, \u003ci\u003eA Widow for One Year\u003c\/i\u003e is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eA Widow for One Year\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Compelling . . . By turns antic and moving, lusty and tragic, \u003ci\u003e A Widow for One Year\u003c\/i\u003e is bursting with memorable moments. . . . A testament to one of life's most difficult lessons: In the end, you just have to find a way to keep going.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Examiner-Chronicle\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A sprawling 19th-century production, chock full of bizarre coincidences, multiple plot lines, lengthy digressions, and stories within stories. . . . An engaging and often affecting fable, a fairy tale that manages to be old-fashioned and modern all at once.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"[Irving's] characters can beguile us onto thin ice and persuade us to dance there. His instinctive mark is the moral choice stripped bare, and his aim is impressive. What's more, there's hardly a writer alive who can match his control of the omniscient point of view.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Washington Post Book World\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In the sprawling, deeply felt \u003ci\u003eA Widow for One Year\u003c\/i\u003e, John Irving has delivered his best novel since \u003ci\u003eThe World According to Garp\u003c\/i\u003e. . . . Like a warm bath, it's a great pleasure to immerse yourself in.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"John Irving is arguably the American Balzac, or perhaps our Dickens--a rip-roaring storyteller whose intricate plot machinery is propelled by good old-fashioned greed, foolishness and passion.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Powerful . . . a masterpiece.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eSt. Louis Post-Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Irving\u003c\/b\u003e has been nominated for a National Book Award three times--winning once, in 1980, for the novel \u003ci\u003eThe World According to Garp\u003c\/i\u003e. In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for \u003ci\u003eThe Cider House Rules\u003c\/i\u003e--a film with seven Academy Award nominations.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50460137980178,"sku":"9780345424716","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c61a8d1c-8f20-4b9f-aefe-ebd193d8781a.jpg?v=1730030212","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-widow-for-one-year-9780345424716","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}