Best Selling Books by Kaye Gibbons

A “vivid, unsentimental, powerful” portrait of a Southern marriage by the New York Times–bestselling author of Ellen Foster (Publishers Weekly). “She hasn’t been dead four months and I’ve already eaten to the bottom of the deep freeze. I even ate the green peas. Used to I wouldn’t turn my hand over for green peas . . .” Ruby Stokes has died too young and left her husband, Blinking Jack, behind. With alternating entries from each of them, A Virtuous Woman recounts the tale of their years together in an “exquisitely realised piece of writing” (Elizabeth Buchan, The Mail on Sunday). From their very different backgrounds—Ruby a daughter of wealth, Jack a penniless tenant farmer—to their relationships with their landlord and his family, and the strength they drew from each other in the face of hardship, this story of a marriage is “full of fantastically gritty metaphors . . . A book that will change your dreams” (The Observer). “Gibbons again flawlessly reproduces the humor and idiom of rural eastern North Carolina.” —Library Journal

Having suffered abuse and misfortune for much of her life, a young child searches for a better life and finally gets a break in the home of a loving woman with several foster children.

Margaret struggles toward adulthood in a world torn apart by the Second World War and complicated by her strong-willed mother, Sophia, and grandmother, Charlie Kate, in a story about three generations of passionate, willful Southern women

Generations of Southern women deal with hard times and heartless men in this “joyous” novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Ellen Foster (The Washington Post Book World). In “a witty and explosive story about men and women, bad girls and good girls, love and laundry,” Kaye Gibbons paints a portrait of shrewd, resourceful women prevailing through hardships and finding unexpected pleasures along the way: gossip, gambling, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing more than they’re supposed to (The Houston Post). In A Cure for Dreams, the acclaimed author “once again demonstrates her extraordinary talent . . . Utterly engaging and convincing” (The Boston Globe). “This episodic novel, Gibbons’s third, is set during the Depression in back-country Virginia and Kentucky. In 19 vignettes, Betty Davies Randolph reveals her childhood and her mother’s life along Milk Farm Road. Gibbons, winner of several literary awards for her first novel Ellen Foster, has captured magnificently the dailiness and sense of community of rural life—from midwives and WPA ballads to suicides and men gone wild. Southern, and full of the folk wisdom of generations, Gibbons’s voice reveals life’s truths.” —Library Journal “Years from now, [these] women’s clear, strong words will still be resonating in my mind.” —Anne Tyler, Chicago Tribune “What a good ear Kaye Gibbons has, and what a good heart. A Cure for Dreams takes the reader down the back roads, and then points out what incredible lives are lived in those ordinary places.” —The Washington Post Book World

The triumphant return of the New York Times bestselling novel''s orphaned heroine—" the Southern Holden Caulfield . . . the female Huck Finn" ( Bookmarks Magazine). Ellen Foster, fifteen years old, formidable, and back in North Carolina with a loving new foster mother, has written to the president of Harvard, asking for early admission. Having already crammed a lot of tragedy, adversity, and trauma into her young years, surely she''s due something. In the meantime, she''s got a lot on her plate: composing poetry and selling it to classmates; trying to tactfully back away from a marriage proposal from her best friend; administering compassion to a slow-witted neighbor who''s found herself pregnant; and planning ahead for a writing camp for the gifted. Fueled by an indomitable spirit, undeterred by a naiveté she refuses to acknowledge, and patiently waiting on word from Mr. Derek Bok about her admission to the Ivy League, Ellen is going to continue to cram, while plotting her own deliverance from a town she knows in her heart she''s outgrown. Alice Hoffman, in The New York Times Book Review, said Ellen Foster "may be the most trustworthy character in recent fiction." After her debut in Kaye Gibbons''s Ellen Foster— awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a special citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and chosen for Oprah Winfrey''s book club—Ellen returns in this unforgettable sequel.

Winner of the American Academy of Arts and Letters'' Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation''s Citation for Fiction. An eleven-year-old heroine tells her unforgettable story with honesty, perceptivity, humor, and unselfconscious heroism. "The honesty of thought and eye and feeling and word!"--Eudora Welty; "A lovely, breathtaking, sometimes heart-wrenching first novel."--Walker Percy. A LITERARY GUILD SELECTION.

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Ellen Foster,Kaye Gibbons paints intimate family portraits in lyrical prose, using as her palette the rich, vibrant colors of the American South. Sights Unseen shows the author at her most passionate and heartfelt best -- an unforgettable tale of unconditional love, and of a family''s desperate search for normalcy in the midst of mental illness. It is a novel of rare poignancy, wit, and evocative power -- the story of the relationship between Hattie Barnes and her emotionally elusive mother, Maggie, known by their neighbors as "that Barnes woman with all the problems." This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

The story of Emma Tate, a privileged Southern woman, who finds herself caught in the Civil War, an event which influenced and changed her life.

In her darkest yet most redeeming novel, Gibbons scorches us with a Þrestorm of despair-and then resurrects love and hope from its very ashes. Autumn 1918: Rumors of peace are spreading across America, but spreading even faster are the first cases of Spanish influenza, whispering of the epidemic to come. Maureen Ross, well past a safe childbearing age, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. Her husband, Troop-cold and careless of her condition-is an emotional cripple who has battered her spirit throughout their marriage. As Maureen''s time grows near, she becomes convinced she will die in childbirth. Into this loveless ménage arrives Mary Oliver, Troop''s niece. The sheltered child of a well-to-do, freethinking Washington family, Mary comes to help Maureen in the last weeks of her confinement. Horrified by Troop''s bullying, she soon discovers that her true duty is to protect her aunt. As the influenza spreads and the death toll grows, Troop''s spiteful behaviors worsen. Tormenting his wife, taunting her for her "low birth," hiding her mother''s letters, Troop terrorizes the household. But when Mary fights back, he begins to go over the edge, and Maureen rallies, releasing a stunning thunderstorm of confrontation and, ultimately, finding spiritual renewal. The Boston Globe hailed On the Occasion of My Last Afternoonas "another gift from Kaye Gibbons to the literature celebrating strong women of every age and era." Much the same can be said of Divining Women.

Au soir de sa vie, " en son dernier après-midi ", Emma Garnet Tate se penche sur son passé. Elle a grandi sur une riche plantation de Virginie, entourée de cinq frères et sueurs, d''une mère aimante et profondément bonne, de Clarice, la vieille esclave noire adorée, mais surtout d''un père arriviste, tyrannique et raciste. Le jour où il tue un " nègre " sous ses yeux, Emma prend la fuite. Elle épouse Quincy, un chirurgien yankee, humaniste et défenseur de la cause des Noirs, auprès duquel elle trouve enfin la paix et fonde un foyer. Mais la guerre de Sécession éclate. Le couple choisit alors de se consacrer aux blessés, qu''ils soigneront jour et nuit, jusqu''à l''épuisement. Suivront les deuils, la solitude, les jours heureux aussi, où Emma puisera toujours la force de continuer à combattre contre toutes les injustices.

Jack Ernest Stokes, ouvrier de ferme un peu rustre, et Ruby, jeune fille de bonne famille, ont vingt ans d''écart et apparemment rien en commun. Pourtant, ils se sont rencontrés et unis pour surmonter leurs démons. Mais Ruby va mourir. Le roman s''ouvre sur les préparatifs de la jeune femme : trois mois de plats tout préparés à mettre au congélateur et destinés à son époux Jack après sa mort. Dans ce récit à deux voix, l''un et l''autre racontent successivement les épisodes tragi-comiques de leur vie quotidienne avec un sens du grotesque tout à fait hors du commun. Et c''est tout le vieux Sud rural des États-Unis qui resurgit. " Au terme d''un récit chaleureux, le veuvage n''est jamais attristant par la grâce d''un style dont le rythme joyeux court à travers toute une société campagnarde, réchauffée par l''éclat posthume de Ruby, tant il est vrai que le Sud est un territoire de femmes, et qu''une femme vertueuse a plusieurs vies. "

On retrouve la narratrice d''Ellen Foster quatre ou cinq ans plus tard, à l''âge de quinze ans. Ellen Foster est une jeune fille extrêmement brillante, d''un Q.I. supérieur à la moyenne. Le livre débute par la lettre qu''elle adresse au président de l''université de Harvard pour exposer son désir d''y postuler, malgré son jeune âge. Soutenue par l''amour de Laura, sa mère d''accueil, Ellen semble apaisée, elle grandit et s''épanouit. Son récit s''articule d''une part autour de sa vie quotidienne, ses amis de l''école, sa vie à la maison, son parcours scolaire ; d''autre part, autour d''une intrigue d''escroquerie à l''héritage apportant des rebondissements au récit qui soudain s''accélère : sa tante aurait détourné ce qui lui était dû à la mort de sa mère. Kaye Gibbons nous offre une chronique émouvante, souvent drôle et truculente, avec sa galerie de personnages attachants et hauts en couleur, qui font vivre sous nos yeux une Amérique peu connue, celle de ce Sud rural, modeste et populaire, et le regard si original de sa narratrice sur " la vie qui l''entoure ".

Automne 1918, Elm City, Caroline du Nord. Les premiers cas de grippe espagnole commencent à se répandre. Maureen Ross vit une grossesse difficile, dans l''indifférence de son mari. Fille d''une famille pauvre du Mississipi, elle a épousé Troop Ross, grosse fortune de Caroline du Nord. Troop, homme froid et coupé de ses sentiments, s''est acharné au fil des années de leur mariage à étouffer l''énergie vitale de Maureen qui, de plus en plus isolée, perd jusqu''à l''espoir de survivre à l''accouchement. Dans ce foyer sans amour arrive Mary Oliver, la nièce de Troop. Enfant choyée d''une riche famille de libres-penseurs de Washington, Mary vient aider Maureen dans les dernières semaines de sa grossesse. Horrifiée par le comportement de Troop, elle comprend vite que son devoir est de protéger sa tante. À mesure que le nombre des victimes de l''épidémie augmente, la peur s''empare de la ville et la tension monte dans la maison des Ross. Soutenue par l''amour de Mary, Maureen va trouver la force de renaître à elle-même et de rejeter la tyrannie destructrice de son mari pour s''ouvrir à la vie, triomphant de la mort qui s''acharne sur la maisonnée...

Dès son vingtième anniversaire, Clarissa Kate se révéla une sage-femme accomplie. Mariée par un pasteur itinérant sur les rives du Pasquotank, au sud reculé des Etats-Unis, elle devint célèbre pour être au fait, aussi bien des anomalies du corps et de l''âme, que des problèmes sociaux... La narratrice mêle ici la destinée de sa grand-mère et de sa mère au récit de sa propre existence. Trois femmes dont l''intelligence et le désir de vivre sont saisis au travers d''un vaste mouvement d''où toute pesanteur est exclue. Traduit de l''américain par Marie-Odile Fortier-Masek

An extract from an international celebration charting the 20th century - stories of poverty and wealth, work and play, tales of changing environments - both urban and rural, in peace and wartime.