Sister Noon
Putnam, May 2001, 24.95, 321 pp.
ISBN: 0399147500
In 1890 San Francisco, forty-year old spinster Lizzie Hayes, daughter of a wealthy man, has made few friends even though she belongs to two churches and has been a member of the Ladies Relief Home for a decade. Her father is outraged by Lizzie's rejection of every male he dumps on her. Though independent and feisty within the taut rules of high society, overall Lizzie remains the obedient ch... The Jane Austen Book Club
Jocelyn, a dog-breader, and matchmaker, starts a six-member book club devoted to Jane Austen.
Bernadette, is the eccentric and oldest member, age sixty-seven. Sylvia is a friend of Jocelyn whose husband has left her. Allegra is the lesbian daughter of Sylvia, and recently single. Prudie is the youngest, and a real fan of "Emma". Grigg is the only man and, oddly, a science fiction fan.
Each session approaches one of Austen's novels, together with a chun... We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
The story is narrated by Rosemary Cooke, a college student recalling her family and childhood. Rosemary's father, a behavioral psychologist, adopted a chimp into the family when Rosemary was very young. She grew up thinking of this chimp, Fern, as her sister--until Fern was abruptly banished from the family. This happened very abruptly when Rosemary was five years old. Rather than telling her about this major change, her parents sent her to her grandpare...
