Frances and Bernard

Author(s): Carlene Bauer

Literature

Inspired by Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell, this novel in letters immerses us inside a moving literary love story and transports us to mid-twentieth-century New York in all its glamour and zip
In the summer of 1957, Frances and Bernard meet at a writers' colony. She finds him faintly ridiculous, but talented. He sees her as aloof, but intriguing. Afterward, he sends her a letter. Soon they are engaged in the kind of fast, deep connection that can take over -- and change the course of -- our lives. Bernard is a poet--well-born, Harvard-educated, gregarious, passionate. Frances is a fiction writer--daughter of a middle-class Irish family, wry, fairly (and often unfairly) judgmental. She is deeply Catholic; he is a convert who yearns to sound out matters of the spirit. He is well into his writing career; she is looking for a way into New York literary life. So begins an extraordinary novel told in absorbing correspondence that explores faith, creativity, depression, passion, what it means to be a true friend, the nature of acceptable sacrifice. How much should we give up for those we love? In witness to all the wonder of kindred spirits and bittersweet romance, "Frances and Bernard "is a tribute to the power of friendship.


 

29.99 AUD

RRP 34.95 AUD (14% off)

Stock: 0

Order this Item


Add to Wishlist


Product Information

"There are so many reasons to love this perfect novel, not least because before our eyes Bauer quietly reveals the lovers to each other, and to themselves, while she explores all of the important problems of faith, work, art, marriage, passion, and how best to lead the life that you think you're meant to live. "Frances and Bernard" is smart and clear and deep and beautiful. I worship it." --Jane Hamilton, author of "Disobedience," "A Map of the World," and "The Book of Ruth"

"Short but satisfying...well written, engrossing, and succeeds in making Frances and Bernard's shared interest in religion believable and their relationship funny, sweet, and sad. A lovely surprise."
-"Publishers Weekly" (starred)

"[A] debut novel of stunning subtlety, grace, and depth...Bauer's use of the epistolary form is masterful as she forges a passionately spiritual, creative, and romantic dialogue between characters based on two literary giants famous for their brilliant letters, Flannery O'Connor and Robert Lowell. Though she changes the particulars of O'Connor's life, Bauer retains the great writer's rigor, humor, faith, penetrating insights, and wisdom. In Bernard, she embraces Lowell's protean powers, tempestuousness, and manic depression. They begin as friends sharing their thoughts and feelings about the church and writing and gradually, cautiously on Frances' part, venture into love. Frances can be lacerating; Bernard is extravagant...Bauer is phenomenally fluent in the voices and sensibilities she so intently emulates, composing dueling letters of breathtaking wit, seduction, and heartbreak...Bauer's piercing novel is dynamic in structure, dramatic in emotion and event, and fierce in its inquiry into religion, love, and art."
--"Booklist "(review)

"A series of erudite letters, some of which are exchanged between the two rich and somewhat eccentric protagonists, and some are written by these characters to others. This remarkable method of storytelling provides snapsho

General Fields

  • : 9780547858241
  • : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
  • : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
  • : 0.454
  • : January 2013
  • : .785 Inches X 5.5 Inches X 8.25 Inches
  • : United States
  • : February 2013
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Carlene Bauer
  • : Hardback
  • : English
  • : 813.6
  • : 208