Winter's edge - Softcover

Miner, Valerie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0895941759 ISBN 13: 9780895941756

Publisher: Crossing Press, 1985

Synopsis

1985 The Crossing Press trade paperback, Valerie Miner (Trespassing and Other Stories). The story depicts the vibrant community that centers around one block in San Francisco's downtown Tenderloin district in the late 1970s, home to people from all walks of life. Here, prostitutes, tourists, immigrants, senior citizens, shopowners, and the homeless coexist, living among the modest shops, cafes, and inexpensive, run-down apartment building's near the city's heart. And here, Chrissie MacInnes and Margaret Sawyer share an intense, long-time friendship and a deep love of their community.

About this title

Review:

I first read--and admired--Valerie Miner's work when I reviewed A Walking Fire two years ago. The award-winning author of six novels and many short stories and essays, Miner reveals in this work the world and worries of older working-class urban women, a world that seldom receives recognition. In the San Francisco of the 1970s, two women--a feminist Scottish waitress and a ladylike ex-New York shop clerk--find themselves drawn into a violent chain of events that binds their friendship closer. Miner also portrays the issue of sex and the older woman, who enjoys her pleasures but doesn't want that old ball and chain again. Winter's Edge is a wonderful book of loves and tears, without being the least bit sappy.

From the Back Cover:

Set in one block of San Francisco's Tenderloin district in the late 1970s, Winter's Edge centers around the lives of two working-class women in their sixties: Chrissie MacInnes, a tough, outspoken, Scottish-born waitress, and the more subdued Margaret Sawyer, a clerk in a news shop. When a local political election threatens their neighborhood with gentrification, it also threatens their friendship: Chrissie fights fiercely for her values and her home, while Margaret tries not to "get involved". But when the election battle leads to arson and violence, they join forces to find the culprit - and in the process, find the courage to reexamine their pasts, face their fears for the future, and affirm the importance of friendship and of community.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crossing Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0895941759
• ISBN 13: 9780895941756
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 184