Relative Distances - Hardcover

Jenkins, Victoria

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879052511 ISBN 13: 9780879052515

Publisher: Gibbs Smith, 1990

Synopsis

Smart, sexy, and tough, although also emotionally spent, a young woman named Myra heads home to the small Wyoming town in which she was raised in an attempt to discover herself

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The characters in screenwriter Jenkins's short, stunning debut novel play out a primal drama of love, sexual obsession, jealousy and remorse against a backdrop of Wyoming's azure skies, rolling hills, sagebrush and badlands. Independent-minded Myra Wells, 36, quits her job in a mine and goes to work for her cousin Arlen, the dour, red-bearded rancher she has long secretly loved. But Arlen is married and also has a "pear-shaped" mistress. Spurned, Myra falls for Arlen's sensitive son, Neal. The plucky heroine's son, Tom, who also works on the ranch, is torn apart to see Neal romancing his mother. The shocking denouement brings the disintegration of many lives. Suffused with a wild, ragged spirit, this fiercely lyrical story is about the costs of living for the moment, about how "you can't go home again" and how a lifetime's illusions can be built around a few charged encounters.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

A hard look at ranch life in modern-day Wyoming, this is the story of beautiful Myra, her older cousin Arlen, and his son Neal. Emotionally and sexually entangled while growing up, Myra and Arlen meet again years later on his financially troubled ranch where Tom, Myra's long-ago deserted son from a brief marriage, has found a home of sorts. Seeking solace for past failures and old hurts, Myra, unable to reach Arlen or Tom for the love she needs, finds herself attracted to gentle Neal. At tale's end, unmindful of the resulting pain and havoc, Myra, in her aging red Cadillac, leaves Wyoming for Texas and the hoped-for start of a new life. Featuring solid character development and strong sense of place, this ambitious first novel deserves both readership and critical attention.
-James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Col.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0879052511
• ISBN 13: 9780879052515
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144