Ladder of Years - Softcover

Tyler, Anne

3.73

17,806 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679762256 ISBN 13: 9780679762256

Publisher: Random House Large Print, 1995

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
BALTIMORE WOMAN DISAPPEARS DURING FAMILY VACATION, declares the headline. Forty-year-old Delia Grinstead is last seen strolling down the Delaware shore, wearing nothing more than a bathing suit and carrying a beach tote with five hundred dollars tucked inside. To her husband and three almost-grown children, she has vanished without trace or reason. But for Delia, who feels like a tiny gnat buzzing around her family's edges, "walking away from it all" is not a premeditated act, but an impulse that will lead her into a new, exciting, and unimagined life . . . .
"TYLER DETAILS DELIA'S ADVENTURE WITH GREAT SKILL . . . As so often in her earlier fiction--Celestial Navigation, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, The Accidental Tourist, and her nine other novels--[she] creates distinct characters caught in poignantly funny situations. . . .Tyler writes with a clarity that makes the commonplace seem fresh and the pathetic touching."
--The New York Times
"UTTERLY COMPELLING. . .WONDERFULLY SATISFYING. . .Ladder of Years is virtually flawless."
--Chicago Tribune
"A 'PAGE-TURNER' IN THE BEST SENSE . . . One wants to lightly caress the pages of the story because one cares for Ms. Tyler's touchingly flawed characters. . . . Both madcap and genteel, Anne Tyler knows as well as anyone that 'human beings lead many lives.' Casually, delightfully, Ladder of Years will tell you just how we humans manage this trick."
--The Baltimore Sun

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Publisher:

Every now and then I'm in the mood for an Anne Tyler novel. Luckily, she is prolific author, so I can usually satiate myself when I need to. Anne Tyler's books are sublime mix of sadness and humor. She writes about everyday problems that everyday people have, and yet there is magic in these stories. She writes about things that many people may fantasize about doing, but would actually never have the nerve to do. For instance, in LADDER OF YEARS, her protagonist simply walks away from her overgrown family one day. She feels that her family doesn't really need her, and so one day while at the beach she goes for a walk and just keeps going. As the story unfolds, you feel sorry for the family somewhat, but you can't help but hope that Delia will make it on her own. She has taken such a bold, brave step, you want to see how far she can go.

If you like this book, you'd also like DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT, THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, and SAINT MAYBE.

-- Jennifer Richards
Ballantine Books Publicity

About the Author:

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941, but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. Anne Tyler has written thirteen novels. Breathing Lessons was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She and her husband, Taghi Modarressi, live in Baltimore, Maryland.
From the Paperback edition.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.