The Widows' Adventures - by Charles Dickinson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Two widows take to the road across America in this ambitious novel by Charles Dickinson. Helene, who is blind, does the driving. Her sister, Ina, shows the way, and together they break free into the light they feared had gone out of their lives. They cross a landscape whose dangers are secondary to the perilous memories and secrets they share. Their goal-Los Angeles, home to Ina's children-shimmers like a mirage on the horizon of their plans. Charles Dickinson has invested these two women with a remarkable spirit: In a vast and intricate weaving of truth and memory he has created two unforgettable sisters with the courage, the wit, and the tenacity to embark upon a journey that redefines for themselves and their families the kind of women they will be for the rest of their lives.

From the Back Cover

Widowhood came late in life to Ina and Helene, two sisters living in Chicago. Now there is nothing holding them back from one last great adventure: a long, leisurely drive to visit family in Los Angeles. Only Helene knows how to operate an automobile, however, and she has been blind for years. But with caustic, beer-swigging Ina as her eyes, she's willing to get behind the wheel once again. And now, on sparsely traveled back roads in the dead of night -- cruising at a comfortable twelve miles per hour -- they're off to see an America they never knew.

Review Quotes

"The Widows' Adventures is full of wit . . . Dickinson displays all the marks of a great writer." - Philadelphia Inquirer

"That most wonderful and increasingly rare sort of novel written by an author who loves his characters beyond measure." - Barbara Kingsolver

"Amusing and touching . . . in the best sense of the word, an entertainment." - Washington Post

"Quirky freshness . . . an original novel . . . a writer of uncommon interest." - New York Times

"Dickinson works magic in this painful, hilarious adventure. . . . His characters glow with passions, bright blue and dangerous, that jump back and forth between them like arcing electricity. . . . He makes their journey not only captivating, but entirely plausible." - Los Angeles Times

"Dickinson offers a tightly constructed, highly deliberate narrative. . . . His accumulated insights, and the rhythm at which he reveals them, will linger and leave a lasting impression." - Publishers Weekly

"Dickinson's [] narrative beginning grows increasingly more human, and in turn more gripping, as the pair drives further west. The characterization develops fully just soon enough to hook the reader, who may find this novel a refreshing change, as it examines the physical, emotional, and spiritual lives of two endearing but not perfect older women." - Library Journal

"The characterization develops fully just soon enough to hook the reader, who may find this novel a refreshing change, as it examines the physical, emotional, and spiritual lives of two endearing but not perfect older women." - Library Journal

"Marvelous characters." - Chicago Tribune