Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition
by:
Carol Shields (author)
These companion novels -- by turns touching, compassionate and humorous -- tell the stories of Jack and Brenda Bowman. In all the years of their marriage they have hardly ever been apart. In THE WIFE'S STORY, Brenda, now forty years old, and who has been surprised to discover a source of creative...
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These companion novels -- by turns touching, compassionate and humorous -- tell the stories of Jack and Brenda Bowman. In all the years of their marriage they have hardly ever been apart. In THE WIFE'S STORY, Brenda, now forty years old, and who has been surprised to discover a source of creative energy, is about to spend a week away from their home in a Chicago suburb to attend a craft convention in Philadelphia. It is her first trip alone. Removed from her familiar environment, all the gathering emotions that have unsettled her life over the last few years are focussed and bring her to a crisis. Brenda is vulnerable in a strange city. She is also ready to grasp whatever experiences come her way. In THE HUSBAND'S STORY, back in Chicago, Jack faces his own crisis. It is the first time he has been left to cope on his own. He is immobilised by self-doubt, beginning to question his worth and the value of his work as a historian. Suddenly, in that one week, his world falls apart. He has to deal with an attempted suicide, a marital breakdown and, not least, their two difficult children. In the process, he manages to work out his feelings and to learn something about himself.—amazon.co.uk "A perfect little gem of a novel."—The Toronto Star
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780140179514 (0140179518)
Publish date: March 1st 1994
Publisher: Penguin
Pages no: 416
Edition language: English
My favorite read of 2002. It's the story of the daily happenings in a marriage told both from the husband and the wife's points of view.