Barbara Gowdy Books

The three Field sisters live in the sanitized suburbs of the fifties and sixties, but their plastic world is askew. They are growing up crazy in a very eccentric, often miserable, sometimes hilarious family. Their home is a war zone ruled by an abusive father - a philandering used-car salesman hooked on booze, guns and discipline. And whenever their mother's coffee mug is empty they hurry to refill it with whiskey, for they know she's living precariously in the wake of the strange unspeakable act she once committed against the family.These falling angels - tough-talking Lou; sensible, sentimental Norma; chic, naïve Sandy - go through rites of passage each in her own way. They turn to drugs, swinging sixties sex, schmaltzy fantasy - and, repeatedly, to one another. And, even after her death, they turn to their mother, and to the bizarre love they discover their father bore her, a love he must commemorate at Niagara Falls—

The book features a compelling narrative that has garnered recognition as an Editor's Choice in the New York Times Book Review. It delves into intricate themes, rich character development, and a thought-provoking plot that challenges societal norms. Readers can expect a blend of emotional depth and intellectual engagement, making it a noteworthy addition to contemporary literature.

The story unfolds through the perspectives of nine-year-old Rachel, her mother Celia, and her abductor, Ron, a middle-aged repairman whose obsession intensifies. Set against the backdrop of a summer blackout, the narrative delves into the unsettling dynamics of admiration and fear, exploring the darker aspects of urban life. As the two-week ordeal progresses, the chilling reality of a parent's worst fears comes to life, making for a gripping thriller that examines innocence, obsession, and the fragility of safety.

Barbara Gowdy's outrageous, hilarious, disturbing, and compassionate novel is about the Canary family, their immoderate passions and eccentricities, and their secret lives and histories. The deepest secret of all is harbored in the silence of the youngest daughter, Joan, who doesn't grow, who doesn't speak, but who can play the piano like Mozart though she's never had a lesson. Joan is a mystery, and in the novel's stunning climax her family comes to understand that each of them is a mystery, as marvelous as Joan, as irreducible as the mystery of life itself. In its compassionate investigation of moral truths and its bold embrace of the fractured nature of every one of its characters, Mister Sandman attains the heightened quality of a modern-day parable.

A thrilling journey into the minds of African elephants as they struggle to survive. If, as many recent nonfiction bestsellers have revealed, animals possess emotions and awareness, they must also have stories. In The White Bone, a novel imagined entirely from the perspective of African elephants, Barbara Gowdy creates a world whole and separate that yet illuminates our own.For years, young Mud and her family have roamed the high grasses, swamps, and deserts of the sub-Sahara. Now the earth is scorched by drought, and the mutilated bodies of family and friends lie scattered on the ground, shot down by ivory hunters. Nothing-not the once familiar terrain, or the age-old rhythms of life, or even memory itself-seems reliable anymore. Yet a slim prophecy of hope is passed on from water hole to water hole: the sacred white bone of legend will point the elephants toward the Safe Place. And so begins a quest through Africa's vast and perilous plains-until at last the survivors face a decisive trial of loyalty and courage.In The White Bone, Barbara Gowdy performs a feat of imagination virtually unparalleled in modern fiction. Plunged into an alien landscape, we orient ourselves in elephant time, elephant space, elephant consciousness and begin to feel, as Gowdy puts it, what it would be like to be that big and gentle, to be that imperiled, and to have that prodigious memory.

In this witty novel, award-winning Canadian writer Barbara Gowdy explores romance and the complexities of love through a narrative that delves into the nature of loving someone on the brink of oblivion.

Lakonische, präzise und zärtliche Erzählungen von ungewöhnlichen und faszinierenden Menschen, die von Geburt an anders sind, Berichte aus einer Welt, die trotz ihrer scheinbaren Fremdheit doch seltsam vertraut ist. Die dunkle Schönheit dieser Geschichten trifft mitten ins Herz. Mit diesem Buch gelang Barbara Gowdy in England der Durchbruch. „Das grenzt an literarische Hexerei.“ SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG