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Description edit
In a historic farmhouse outside Boston, seventy-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement: reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. His routines are disrupted, however, when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Percy Darling: retired widower
- Robert: premed student at Harvard/Percy's grandson
- Celestino: Guatemalan gardener who works for Percy's neighbor
- Ira: gay preschool teacher
- Sarah: Add a description of this character.
- Anthony
- Trudy
- Isabelle
- Arturo
- Matlock
- Granddad
- Dr. Lartigue
- Lee
- Uncle Todd
- Evelyn
- Laurel Connaughton
- Helena
- Douglas
- Tamara
- Gus
- Norval
- Charles
- Maurice Fougere
- Raul
- Betty
- Dr. Wang
- Moira
- Ramsey
- Marguerite
- Daphne
- Marta
- Harry
- Clo
- Clara
- Mrs. Karp
- Mr. Darling
- Mrs. Bullard
- Tom Loud
- Jonathan
- Willard Caldwell
- Mr. Sorenson
- Hosmer
- Joe
- Mccord
- Etienne
- Bettina
Quotes edit
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“It isn't organic, but the chemicals were produced in a petri dish blessed by the Dalai Lama.”
Percy, serving canned soup to his sick friend. (This is from memory and may not be exact. I had to return the book before I got the quote written down. But I loved it.)
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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“I don’t see how you could ever have a favorite when there are just two: one will always and forever be your first, the miracle baby, the one who paves the way, strikes out for adventure—the intrepid one, the one who teaches you how to do what nature intended all along—and the other, oh the other will always be your baby, your darling, the one you surprised yourself by loving just as desperately much as you loved the first.”
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The peak of a mountain, he says, is always a perilous place to stand, no matter how sweeping the view.”
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She had brought me to a place of becoming, away from a place of having been.
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My love of books is a love of what they contain; they hold knowledge as a pitcher holds water, as a dress contains the mystery of a woman’s exquisite body. Their physicality matters—do not speak to me of storing books as bytes!—but they should not inspire fetishistic devotion.
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When you wish for something too hard and too long, against God’s intentions for you, the wish may come true after all—but not in the way you would like.
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When I saw them deep in a volume of Fielding or Cheever, I felt a naïve surge of comfort, as if this were proof that the world, whatever its troubles, was still protected by the human heart.
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To spot a personal letter among one’s mail nowadays is rather like glancing out the window to spot a hummingbird dining at a blossom. A rare sight, arresting and sweet.
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Crisis equals danger plus opportunity; isn’t that what the Chinese say?”
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It struck him then, forcefully, that the strange cat was too much like him: living its life aloof, in fear, watching from a distance, approaching and retreating over and over.
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L’absence au coeur, c’est comme le vent au feu. ‘Absence to the heart is like wind to the fire.’ A little fans the flames; too much puts them out.…
Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers
First Sentence edit
Why, thank you. I’m getting in shape to die.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Rainy Day Books (Staff Picks for 2010). (community list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Julia Glass (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Pantheon
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0307377920
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Pantheon
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0307377920
Page Count: 416
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813
Subjects edit
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