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Description edit
With two novels and one short story collection published to overwhelming critical acclaim (" Monkeys takes your breath away," said Anne Tyler; "heartbreaking, exhilarating," raved the New York Times Book Review ), Susan Minot has emerged as one of the most gifted writers in America, praised... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Now ailing and surrounded by her children, sixty-five-year-old Ann Grant Lord reminisces about a glorious summer weekend some forty years earlier during which she met and lost the love of her life.
Characters/People edit
- Ann Grant: 25 and dying of cancer at 65, Ann has had three husbands, five children and remembers a lost love
- Harris Arden: son of a Turkish mother, and American diplomatic father, born in Turkey, raised in Virginia and Switzerland. Served in Korea, now a doctor in Chicago, and engaged to Marie di Carlo. A smooth, charismatic young man who plays a mean sax in a band at he wedding
- Phil Katz: Ann's first husband, father of two daughters: Constance and Margaret/Margie. Divorced
- Constance: Daughter of Ann and Phil Katz. Married and divorced from an EnglishmanWill, they have a son, Julian. She lives in Paris with a Frenchman, Luc who is half Russian.
- Margie: 2nd daughter of Ann and Phil Katz - somewhat Bohemian - divorced Seth who pilots charters out of St. Kitts, no children. Insecure.
- Ted Stackpole: Very wealthy man who swept Ann off her feet after her divorce. They had twin sons - Teddy and Paul. Traveled widely, lived in CT. Became an abusive drunk, but died before she left him.
- Teddy Stackpole: Married to Lauren, twin daughters. Kind and gentle, caring.
- Paul Stackpole: Teddy's twin who died in a boating accident while at camp in Virginia
- Grace Stackpole: Ted Stackpole's spinster sister
- Oscar Lord: Twenty years older than Ann, her third husband, and supposedly unable to have children, Nina born 12 years after they were married.
- Nina Lord: Ann's youngest child - striving to become a successful actress. Has spent many of her summers on Three O'Clock Island with the children of the old gang.
- Lila Wittenborn: Ann's best friend from their teen years growing up in Boston, and sharing summers with Lila's family on Three O'Clock Island off the coast of Maine. The story begins with Lila and Carl Cutler's wedding...
- Mr. and Mrs. Wittenborn: Dick and Linda - Married when Linda was 17. Live the booze clouded "good life" - wealthy and idle. Parents of Buddy, Lila and Gigi
- Buddy Wittenborn: Lila's older brother. A hard-drinking, moody, but seemingly carefree young man. One of Carl's groomsmen.
- Gigi Wittenborn: Lila's 20 year old younger sister, a determined flirt and dare-devil
- Carl Cutler: Lila's groom - a quiet, determined, conscientious, loving, caring young man. Will take good care of Lila. Brother, Pip, is on of the groomsmen
- Monty: Volentine Montgomery - one of Carl's groomsmen
- Ollie Granger: Close friend of the Wittenborn family and one of Carl's groomsmen. One of the Boston and Maine gang - stays close to Lila and Ann. Married to Lily, but they have no children. Comforts Ann when she loses her son...
- Lizzie Tull: Lila's college friend and bridesmaid
- Gail Slater: Lila's oldest friend and a bridesmaid
- Eve Wittenborn: cousin of Lila's and bridesmaid
- Fiona Speed: Ann's New York friend and confidant
- John Winter: an old friend who had asked Ann questions about romance while they danced at Lila's wedding - and she countered with her own questions -did he trust his fiancée, could he see them growing old together, did they laugh together?
- Vernon Tobin: Lila's cousin who had asked Ann to marry him, and she'd turned him down
- Dr. Baker: Dick and Bertie Baker are long time friends, and Ann's doctor trying to give her comfort in her last days
- Nurse Nora Brown: The most important of Ann's nurses
- Maria Di Corcia: Add a description of this character.
- Buddy Wittenbom
- Ralph Eastman
- Ann Lord
- Oliver Granger
- Dick
- Malcolm Flynn
- Ruthie
- Lauren
- Gigri
- Clint Stone
- Julian
Setting & Locations edit
Ann Lord's bedroom in Cambridge, Mass.
- Three O'Clock Island, off the Maine coast: Summer home of the Wittenburgs, and where Ann has spent many of her summers with them
- Cambridge, Mass.: Ann's last house and gardens
- New York
- Chicago
- Venice
- Boston
- Paris
- Virginia
First Sentence edit
A new lens passed over everything she saw, the shadows moved on the wall like skeletons handing things to each other.
Table of Contents edit
PART ONE
1. The canopy
PART TWO
2. The Balsam Pillow
3. The Yellow Suitcase
4. Torches
5. The Rock Garden
6. The Sail Closet
7. A Pale Boy
PART THREE
8. Fog
9. Report from Nurse Brown
PART FOUR
10. The Venetian Chandelier
11. Fastening the Suspender
12. The wedding Night
13. The Plunge
14. Wake Up paris
15. Swim of the Second Heart
PART FIVE
16. Evening
Themes & Symbolism edit
Authors & Contributors edit
- Susan Minot (Author)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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