U.S.A. $21.00
Canada $28.95
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In a dramatic story reminiscent of Harper Lee and Truman Capote,
hailed by Larry McMurtry as "a beautiful first novel," a small
southern town in the 1920s becomes the stage for a woman's poignant
struggle to provide her life with more meaning and charm than fate has
apportioned her.
Arriving in Winsville with a firm grasp of the classics, four
steamer trunks of books, a bust of Quintilian, and shoes and gloves
for different times of day, Vienna Daniels creates a stir in town a
uncomfortable with difference. "She's not crazy, she's just educated,"
Dr. Barstow pronounces to Vienna's husband, Willard, who is plainly
disappointed with the patrician bride he managed to marry. When the
marriage fails and Willard abandons her, Vienna and her two children
have nothing more than the magic of their own imaginations to parlay
an accidental and unenviable situation into one that captivates the
town.
Private Altars is a compelling story about the nature of
consequence -- the way in which meaningless acts lead to irreversible
situations, and the difficult compromise between the demands of
society and the desires of the individual. Trapped in the wrong place
and time, Vienna Daniels' attempt to transcend her circumstance
unfolds into a haunting and unforgettable story.
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