Ladder of Years: A Novel - Softcover

Tyler, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449910571 ISBN 13: 9780449910573

Publisher: Vintage, 1996

Synopsis

"BALTIMORE WOMAN DISAPPEARS DURING FAMILY VACATION." The headlines are all the same: Beloved mother and wife Delia Grinstead was last seen strolling down the Delaware shore, wearing only a bathing suit and carrying a beach tote with five hundred dollars tucked inside. To the best of her family's knowledge, she has disappeared without a trace.
But Delia didn't disappear. She ran.
Exhausted with her routine and everyone else's plans for her, Delia needed an out, a chance to make a new life for herself and to become a different person. The new Delia can let go of all the hurt and resentment that left her stuck in her past. As she eagerly sheds the pieces of herself she no longer needs, Delia discovers feelings of passion and wonder she'd long since forgotten. The thrill of walking away from it all leads to a newfound sense of self and the feeling that she is, finally, the star of her own life story.

About 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

From the Inside Flap:

IMES 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&

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0449910571
• ISBN 13: 9780449910573
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336