The Age of Miracles

by Ellen Gilchrist

Overview

In her exuberantly funny, bittersweet collection, Ellen Gilchrist offers 16 stories that delve into the vibrant lives of her signature strong-willed women. Ranging from hilarity to despair—innocent children bewildered by their elders’ behavior, a writer living on Xanax, and a socialite seeking a health cure only to find romance instead of rest—Gilchrist’s high-spirited characters always tend to find themselves in outrageous situations. The beloved and feisty Rhoda Manning returns, fighting the lure of the bottle while relentlessly going after her dream of becoming a famous writer. And while the restraint of family and society continues to haunt Gilchrist’s characters, they prove fearless and deliciously carve their own chaotic paths toward survival. Set in Fayetteville, Arkansas and New Orleans, Louisiana, the tales are artfully fashioned, providing tastes of marvelously trouble-prone people at every stage of life. Packed with humor, sexuality, and ever true to human weakness, this collection is romantic and full of passion—a treat in which readers will happily indulge.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940148430957
Publisher:	DCA, Inc.
Publication date:	09/23/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	674 KB

About the Author

Ellen Gilchrist is the award-winning author of more than 20 books, including novels, short story collections, essays and poetry. Her new collection of stories, ACTS OF GOD, will be published in April 2014 by Algonquin, along with the paperback release of her novel A DANGEROUS AGE. She lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and teaches creative writing and contemporary fiction at the University of Arkansas.

Editorial Reviews

[Gilchrist's stories] shine with tolerance for the vagaries of human nature. Set mainly in Fayetteville and New Orleans, the tales here have both substance and subtext, and are artfully fashioned. Most are told in an easy conversational style, as though Gilchrist and the listener were on a porch settee sipping glasses of Scotch. Marked by wit as well as a weathered view of the battle of the sexes, they feature...women who hurt those they love...and one or two shining examples of human beings.

Publishers Weekly

The Age of Miracles itself seems a miracle, powerfully illustrating the serenity that people sometimes develop as they age, the reward for enduring all the difficulties and disappointments of life.

San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle

The Age of Miracles is Ellen Gilchrist’s best book yet. Its comedy, irony, sexuality, inwardness, and sadness, all of it undergirded by a brave and funny sensibility, convince me anew that her work is in the first rank of American fiction today.

Author of MY DOG SKIP and NORTH TOWARDS HOME - Willie Morris

The stories in this collection are among her best.

Miami Herald

This collection of stories hops about in the life of Rhoda Manning. An alcoholic, anorexic housewife who dreams of becoming a writer...her wild personal life provides material for her stories, which interweave associated family members, neighbors, and friends to create a chaotic picture of her existence. The stories are not presented in chronological order, and each seems to focus on evoking a different response, ranging from hilarity to despair. Gilchrist shows great versatility and finesse.

Library Journal