Book description
In an original collaboration two award-winning authors, Carol Shields
and Blanche Howard, have written an immensely enjoyable novel which give
us both sides of a story about the breakdown of traditional roles, rules
and communication in a marriage.
A CELIBATE SEASON is the story of a married couple, Jocelyn and
Charles, (Jock and Chas) and their self-imposed separation of ten months
when Jock accepts a job in a city more than three thousand miles away
from her family. As "breadwinner" and suddenly
"single" again Jock is confronted with local politics,
loneliness and advances from the opposite sex. Meanwhile back at home,
Chas, an unemployed architect, is now a "single parent" who
has to reacquaint himself with his teenage children, Mia and Greg, learn
to run a household and shift his career priorities. Throw in an
attractive young housekeeper, a mother-in-law who enjoys her wine, a
touch of teenage angst, some unexpected home renovations and a
disastrous Christmas dinner and you have modern family life. Carol
Shields novels include Larry's Party (1997), winner of the 1998 Orange
Prize; The Stone Diaries (1993), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and
short-listed for the Orange Prize. Born and brought up in Chicago, Carol
Shields has lived in Canada since 1957. Blanche Howard is the author of
three previous novels.
