Desperate Characters Av Paula Fox

Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated Brooklyn brownstone. <br/> After Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a neighbourhood cat, a <br/> series of small, ominous disasters begin to plague their lives, revealing the <br/> fractures in a marriage wrenching itself apart.A Great American Novel -- from the author of Borrowed Finery. 'A <br/> masterpiece.' Observer 'Inarguably great. Desperate Characters soars above <br/> every other work of American realist fiction since the Second World War.' <br/> JONATHAN FRANZEN Otto and Sophie Bentwood live childless in a renovated <br/> Brooklyn brownstone. The complete works of Goethe line their bookshelf, their <br/> stainless steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked <br/> outside. After Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a half-starved <br/> neighbourhood cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague <br/> their lives, revealing the faultlines and fractures in a marriage - and a <br/> society - wrenching itself apart. * A scorching portrait of a 1960s New York <br/> marriage which opens out into a brilliant examination of the paradoxes of <br/> civilisation. * A classic of American literature from a writer championed and <br/> brought back into print by many contemporary greats of American lit - Jonathan <br/> Franzen, David Foster Wallace, Andrea Barrett etc. * A Paperback Original * <br/> From the author of the memoir, Borrowed Finery, one of the NY Times Best Books <br/> of 2001 (only 9 chosen in total!); * Published alongside The Widow's Children, a novel which closely mirrors <br/> the events in Borrowed Finery.