Best Selling Books by Alison Lurie

The author of The War Between the Tates and the Pulitzer prize-winning Foreign Affairs now brings her irresistible wit to the ghost story. In nine spooky tales, Alison Lurie writes of women haunted by ghosts both literal and metaphorical: A woman about to marry Mr. Right is visited by the spirit of his first wife; a dead fiancé haunts a foreign service officer every time she has an intimate moment with another man; the ghost of a girl in a Halloween costume disconcerts the perfect housewife. A secretary on a diet begins to see obese people everywhere she looks; a self-conscious poet is shadowed by her intrusive doppelganger; and a capricious, malevolent spirit seems to have inhabited an acquisitive matron’s prized piece of furniture. Delightfully strange and beautifully told, these nine tales show Alison Lurie at her luminous best.

Over the years, Alison Lurie has earned a devoted readership for her satiric wit and storytelling acumen. With Truth and Consequences, described by the New Yorker as "a comedy of adultery with a comedy of academia thrown in," Lurie returns with a modern social satire that recalls the best of David Lodge and Mary McCarthy as well as her own popular university novels The War Between the Tates and Foreign Affairs. BACKCOVER: "A wily, shapely tale of love''s labors lost." -Elle "A wry, insightful, thoroughly enjoyable tale about how men and women choose their demons and their lovers, and the sacrifices they''re willing to make for both." -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Delightful . . . Her characters are, as always, wonderfully imperfect." -The New York Review of Books

In this “excellent” novel of “rare understanding” from a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, culture shock consumes a young Harvard couple in Los Angeles (The New York Times). When his mentor at Harvard University suddenly leaves for Washington, Paul Cattleman finds himself adrift in the wilds of academia. After losing his fellowship, he is out of work and one thesis short of a PhD. Rather than doom his career by taking what he considers to be an unsuitable job, he finds a temporary position at the Nutting Research and Development Corporation in Los Angeles, a city whose superficial charms signal an adventure. He is ready to make the best of his year out west among the beatniks and Hollywood hippies. The only thing holding him back is his wife. Katherine is a New Englander through and through, and as soon as she steps into the LA smog, she knows this transition will be a struggle. What Paul sees as fun, she considers vulgar. Bogged down by her allergies and crumbling marriage, she seeks out a shrink, who surprises and transforms her. While Los Angeles may be a cultural wasteland, this East Coast girl will find that West Coast pleasures can be quite a lot of fun. The National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs “writes coolly and wickedly” of freedom and self-discovery in this witty novel (The New Yorker). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author’s collection.

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE Virginia Miner, a fifty-something, unmarried tenured professor, is in London to work on her new book about children’s folk rhymes. Despite carrying a U.S. passport, Vinnie feels essentially English and rather looks down on her fellow Americans. But in spite of that, she is drawn into a mortifying and oddly satisfying affair with an Oklahoman tourist who dresses more Bronco Billy than Beau Brummel. Also in London is Vinnie’s colleague Fred Turner, a handsome, flat broke, newly separated, and thoroughly miserable young man trying to focus on his own research. Instead, he is distracted by a beautiful and unpredictable English actress and the world she belongs to. Both American, both abroad, and both achingly lonely, Vinnie and Fred play out their confused alienation and dizzying romantic liaisons in Alison Lurie’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Smartly written, poignant, and witty, Foreign Affairs remains an enduring comic masterpiece. “A splendid comedy, very bright, brilliantly written in a confident and original manner. The best book by one of our finest writers.” –Elizabeth Hardwick “There is no American writer I have read with more constant pleasure and sympathy. . . . Foreign Affairs earns the same shelf as Henry James and Edith Wharton.” –John Fowles “If you manage to read only a few good novels a year, make this one of them.” –USA Today “An ingenious, touching book.” –Newsweek “A flawless jewel.” –Philadelphia Inquirer

Before we even speak to someone in a meeting, at a party, or on the street, our clothes express important information (or misinformation) about our occupation, origin, personality, opinions, and tastes. We pay close attention to how others dress, as well; though we may not be able to put our observations into words, we unconsciously register the information, so that when we meet and converse we have already spoken in a universal language.

A novel of childlike wonder and adult discord during the Great Depression—by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Nowhere City. Dozing in the back seat of her father''s car, Mary Ann Hubbard is the happiest eight-year-old in the country. It''s 1935, and she and her parents are going to spend Fourth of July weekend at her headmistress''s farm in upstate New York. Joining them are the Zimmerns, whose daughter Lolly is Mary Ann''s best friend from school. While the two little girls frolic in the attic, endowing the rambling old house with wonder, creativity, and imagination, their parents are downstairs, mired in all the pleasure, pain, and occasional childishness of adulthood. As an affair threatens to tear the two families apart, Lolly and Mary Ann retreat farther into playtime. By the end of the weekend, the girls begin to realize that becoming an adult and growing up can be two very different things. The National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs gives a joyous glimpse into the innocence and irony of childhood during the Great Depression. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author''s collection.

Sleeping beauties? Not Clever Gretchen or Kate Crackernuts or Manka or any of the other young heroines in this wonderful collection of folktales. Active, witty, brave, and resourceful, these girls and young women can fight and hunt, defeat giants, answer riddles and outwit the devil. These stories are usually left out of the popular collections of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when women were supposed to be beautiful, innocent, and passive.

Loyal Victorian wife Jenny has devoted her life to her husband, the much older, famous writer and naturalist, Wilkie Walker. But this year, as winter approaches, Wilkie is increasingly depressed. At her wit''s end, Jenny persuades him to visit Key West, the Last Resort.

In the Pulitzer Prize–winning author''s "excellent" debut, a professor''s wife searches for liberation at the hands of a music instructor ( The New York Times). Though born in New York, the men of Emmy Turner''s family have long found their spiritual home in the idyllic Convers College. Her father, brothers, and uncles entered the New England intellectual enclave as boys and came out men, ready to take on the challenges of the world. It is a pity, Emmy thinks, that women are not allowed to enroll. So when her husband, Holman, wins a place teaching at Convers, Emmy is thrilled to finally see what all the fuss is about. But by the time the first snow hits, she is bored, listless, and utterly out of love. Emmy''s search for pleasure on campus leads her to Miranda, a cocky young bohemian, and Will, a music teacher specializing in sexual composition. Emmy may not be paying tuition, but in her first Convers winter she will learn more than she ever expected. The National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs Affairs, The War Between the Tates, and The Last Resort writes a sharply observant and poignant debut novel. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author''s collection.

Roman i dagbogsform om en kunstnerkoloni

A husband''s affair pushes a suburban wife to her breaking point in this "near perfect comedy of manners" by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Real People ( The New York Times). Erica Tate wouldn''t mind getting up in the morning if her children were less intolerable. Until puberty struck, Jeffrey and Matilda were absolute darlings, but in the last year, they have become sullen, insufferable little monsters. A forty-year-old housewife out of work and out of mind, she finds little happiness in the small college town of Corinth. Erica''s husband, Brian, a political science professor, is so deeply immersed in university life—or more accurately in the legs of his mistress, a half-literate flower child named Wendy—that he either doesn''t notice his wife''s misery or simply doesn''t care. Worst of all, their pleasant little neighborhood is transforming into a subdivision. As new ranch houses spring up around their once idyllic home, Erica''s marriage inches closer to disaster. When the Tate household tips into full-scale emotional combat, Erica must do her best to ensure that she comes out on top. In this darkly comic tale of a family at civil war, the National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs dives into the deterioration of a marriage. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author''s collection.

Two sociologists infiltrate a cult that pulls them into madness in this " barbed and richly entertaining" novel from a Pulitzer Prize–winning author ( The Wall Street Journal). Once the nation''s most popular sociologist, Tom McMann searches for a research subject that will invigorate his career. Unlike any study he''s seen before, he targets the Truth Seekers, an up-and-coming cult that seeks flying saucers, utopian planets, and new spiritual plains. An irresistible mixture of New Age cranks and sci-fi nerds, they are ruled over by Verena, a beautiful young telepath who believes she has a hotline to another world. The Seekers are isolated, committed, and eccentric, but most importantly, they''re hiring. Assisted by his wide-eyed young colleague, Roger Zimmern, McMann infiltrates the Truth Seekers, hoping to see how the zealots respond if questioned by someone within their midst. But when Verena''s babblings start to make a little too much sense, the researchers must choose between losing their minds and buying one-way tickets to outer space. From the National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs, The War Between the Tates, and The Last Resort, this is a richly funny novel that will dazzle and entertain. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author''s collection.

In this comedy by a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a biographer out to vindicate a neglected female artist learns that the truth is never tidy. Polly Alter is through with men. Recovering from her divorce, she has taken a year off from her museum job to write a biography of Lorin Jones, a sensitive painter who died young and nearly forgotten. Polly is determined to bring the artist the public acclaim she deserves, making up for the neglect and exploitation Lorin suffered from the men in her life. The only problem with the story of Lorin’s victimhood is that it may not be true. And as Polly wades deeper into her research, growing more attached to her subject, and more lost in the world of two decades past, she begins to realize that no life story is as simple as a biographer might wish. The National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs writes a daring and “relentless comedy” that novelist Edmund White calls “one of the most entertaining novels I''ve read in a long time” (The New York Times). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author’s collection.

This collection of essays probes the ways in which classic children''s literature tends to undermine, rather than support, respectable adult values