Wives & Lovers - by Richard Bausch (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A first-rate collection of novellas that will break your heart and fill you with hope at the same time." --Denver Rocky Mountain News

In the tradition of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez comes Wives and Lovers, from the author the Boston Globe calls "One of the most expert and substantial of our writers."

Requisite Kindness--published here for the first time--tells the story of a man who must comes to terms with a life of treating women badly when he goes to live with his sister and dying mother. Rare and Endangered Species demonstrates how a wife and mother's suicide reverberates in the small community where she lives, and affects the lives of people who don't even know her. Finally, Spirits is about the pain that men and women can--and do--inflict upon each other. Three very different stories that illuminate the unadorned core of love--not the showy, more celebrated sort, but what remains when the more ephemeral emotions such as lust, jealousy, and passion have been stripped away.

From the Back Cover

Wives & Lovers is a collection of three short novels from the author whom the Boston Globe calls "one of the most expert and substantial of our writers."

Requisite Kindness -- published here for the first time -- tells the story of a man who must come to terms with a life of treating women badly when he goes to live with his sister and dying mother. Rare & Endangered Species demonstrates how a wife and mother's suicide reverberates in the small community where she lived, and affects the lives of people who don't even know her. Finally, Spirits is about the pain that men and women can -- and do -- inflict upon each other. These three very different works illuminate the unadorned core of love -- not the showy, more celebrated sort but what remains when lust, jealousy, and passion have been stripped away.

Review Quotes

"Haunting and beautifully crafted, these three short novellas showcase Bausch's skill at eliciting readers' compassion...leaves you wanting more." -- People (4 Stars)

"These fascinating stories, written by someone who clearly delights in human foibles, deliver unflinching gut punches while remaining undeniably moving." -- Entertainment Weekly

"A first-rate collection of novellas that will break your heart and fill you with hope at the same time." -- Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Superb ... Bausch's always deft touch seems to have become even more fine-tuned over the course of time." -- Seattle Times

"Bausch's emotional insight is staggering, and his talent [punctures] often-impenetrable battles of love and their aftershocks." -- Washingtonian Magazine

"Bausch conveys a real perception of what e.e. cummings might call the power of life's 'intense fragility'." -- Washington Post

"Short-story master Bausch probes the tensions that seethe in families...tempered by sensitive affection." -- Kirkus Reviews

"In the small firmament of American writers who're both superb novelists and eloquent short-story practitioners Richard Bausch's star shines more brightly now than ever." -- Richard Ford

"Richard Bausch is a master of the short story." -- New York Times Book Review