Unless by Carol Shields

Unless by Carol Shields

A new novel from Carol Shields, author of The Stone Diaries (winner of the Pulitzer prize) and Larry's Party (winner of the Orange prize). All her life, it seems to Reta Winters, she has enjoyed the useful monotony of happiness. She has a loving husband, three bright daughters and supportive friends, and is experiencing growing success as a writer and translator. Then her eldest daughter suddenly withdraws from the world, abandoning university, family and loving boyfriend to sit on a street corner, uncommunicative but for a sign around her neck bearing one word, 'GOODNESS'. The anguish of her loss leads Reta into a desperate search for the causes of her daughter's retreat. No obvious explanation appears to fit. As Reta casts her net ever wider her enquiry turns into an unflinching, often very funny examination of our society and the reasons a young woman might conclude it has no place for her. Warmth, passion and wisdom come together in this journey through the life of an unforgettable woman. Shields' remarkably supple prose yields insights and images of transcendent beauty and acuity from the stuff of small-town life. At once the discomfiting, ultimately consoling story of one family's loss and a searing portrait of life at the dawn of the twenty-first century, UNLESS is a dazzling and daring novel from the undisputed master of extraordinary fictions about so-called 'ordinary' lives.

'Her perceptions are so quick, her style is so acute, that she can tack a breath to the page and skewer a thought on the wingIt is her speciality to isolate moments that remain distinct in the mind for years, perhaps for a lifetime.' Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times

Carol Shields's novels include Larry's Party (1997), winner of the 1998 Orange Prize; The Stone Diaries (1993), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; The Republic of Love (1992); Happenstance (1991) and Mary Swann (1990). Dressing Up for the Carnival, a bestselling collection of short stories, was published in 2000, and a previous collection, Various Miracles, was published in 1994. Born and brought up in Chicago, Carol Shields has lived in Canada since 1957. She was the Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780007137701
ISBN 10	0007137702
Title	Unless
Author	Carol Shields
Condition	Unavailable
Binding type	Hardback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers
Year published	2002-05-07
Number of pages	224
Prizes	Short-listed for Orange Prize for Fiction 2003, Short-listed for Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2002, Short-listed for James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Fiction) 2002, Short-listed for Booker Prize for Fiction 2002
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable