From the Publisher
In Bobbie Ann Mason's spectacular new novel, a woman looks back on her life, her first love and the choices she made. . . . The tale that unfolds is a profound examination of grief, regret and memory, wrapped in a compelling story of first love. Mason’s confident writing does not miss a step. . . . This book is as true as they come.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Ms. Mason’s first novel, In Country, from 1985, was in part about the devastation the Vietnam War wrought on youthful innocence and idealism, and she thoughtfully pursues the theme again here. For all its sun-dappled daydreaming, Dear Ann arrives at a place of surprising bitterness. The longer the escape, the more painful the return.” — Wall Street Journal
"A strange and beautiful writer." — George Saunders
“This elegant book will transport you to another era, with a love that's totally timeless.” — Good Housekeeping
"You can practically smell the incense and hear the Beatles in this love letter to the counterculture of the 1960s." — People
“A fine-tuned novel … brilliantly observed—and the would-be Stanford years contain a top-flight literary look at the impact of the Vietnam War on men and women of our generation on the home front.” — The VVA Veteran
“Deeply moving. . . . A beautifully written homage to the 1960s by a mature writer at the top of her literary power.” — Kirkus, starred review
“Vividly recreates those heady counterculture days as a poignant backdrop for the regrets one often faces when one follows one’s head instead of one’s heart.” — Booklist
“Captures the poignancy of first love, its effect on everything that follows, and the naïveté and uncertainty of youth in the chaos of cultural change. . . . Highly recommended.” — Library Journal
"A writer of power and sympathy, insight and great love for her characters." — NPR
“Bobbie Ann Mason is one of those rare writers who, by concentrating their attention on a few square miles of native turf, are able to open up new and surprisingly wide worlds for the delighted reader.” — The New York Review of Books on Shiloh and Other Stories
"A novel that, like a light bulb, burns an afterimage in our minds." — New York Times on In Country
Wall Street Journal
Ms. Mason’s first novel, In Country, from 1985, was in part about the devastation the Vietnam War wrought on youthful innocence and idealism, and she thoughtfully pursues the theme again here. For all its sun-dappled daydreaming, Dear Ann arrives at a place of surprising bitterness. The longer the escape, the more painful the return.
Good Housekeeping
This elegant book will transport you to another era, with a love that's totally timeless.
The VVA Veteran
A fine-tuned novel … brilliantly observed—and the would-be Stanford years contain a top-flight literary look at the impact of the Vietnam War on men and women of our generation on the home front.
Booklist
Vividly recreates those heady counterculture days as a poignant backdrop for the regrets one often faces when one follows one’s head instead of one’s heart.
NPR
"A writer of power and sympathy, insight and great love for her characters."
People
"You can practically smell the incense and hear the Beatles in this love letter to the counterculture of the 1960s."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
In Bobbie Ann Mason's spectacular new novel, a woman looks back on her life, her first love and the choices she made. . . . The tale that unfolds is a profound examination of grief, regret and memory, wrapped in a compelling story of first love. Mason’s confident writing does not miss a step. . . . This book is as true as they come.”
George Saunders
"A strange and beautiful writer."
Booklist
Vividly recreates those heady counterculture days as a poignant backdrop for the regrets one often faces when one follows one’s head instead of one’s heart.
Wall Street Journal
Ms. Mason’s first novel, In Country, from 1985, was in part about the devastation the Vietnam War wrought on youthful innocence and idealism, and she thoughtfully pursues the theme again here. For all its sun-dappled daydreaming, Dear Ann arrives at a place of surprising bitterness. The longer the escape, the more painful the return.
New York Times on In Country
"A novel that, like a light bulb, burns an afterimage in our minds."
The New York Review of Books on Shiloh and Other Stories
Bobbie Ann Mason is one of those rare writers who, by concentrating their attention on a few square miles of native turf, are able to open up new and surprisingly wide worlds for the delighted reader.
Raymond Carver on Shiloh and Other Stories
These stories will last.
Los Angeles Times Book Review on In Country
Brilliant and moving . . . a moral tale that entwines public history with private anguish.
Raymond Carver on Shiloh and Other Stories
These stories will last.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-06-26
Mason’s first novel since The Girl in the Blue Beret (2011) is a deeply moving meditation on one woman’s life choices and the road she didn’t take.
Onboard a cruise ship in 2017, a troubled Ann Workman ponders her past. What if she had heeded her old college professor Albert’s advice and gone to Stanford for graduate school instead of heading to Harpur College in upstate New York? It was the 1960s, and California was “at the center of the universe," as Albert enthused in a letter, one of many that Ann has saved over 50 years and that populate the narrative. How would Ann’s life have changed? Fusing her memories with a writer's imagination, she creates a new storyline in which a naïve young woman drives west "with an innocent boldness" to Palo Alto. Exploring this new world that is “both tantalizing and threatening,” Ann gradually comes out of her shell, especially after she meets Jimmy, the “Real Thing” she has longed for. He too is an outsider, ashamed of his suburban Chicago background and intrigued by her rural Kentucky roots. Bonding over literature and music, they embark on an intense relationship against the backdrop of a Stanford campus “quivering with spontaneous demonstrations and teach-ins” against the escalating Vietnam War. Through this poignant romance, Mason vividly evokes the exhilaration and excitement of being young during such tumultuous cultural and political changes. It's no wonder that years later Chip, a friend of Jimmy and Ann, refers to that era as "the best time of my life, and of course the saddest." As Ann reassesses her choices, the reader senses that the 80-year-old author is using this haunting novel to also take stock of her own life.
A beautifully written homage to the 1960s by a mature writer at the top of her literary power.
