'One night when she was four and sleeping in the bottom bunk of her bunk bed, Ruth Cole awoke to the sound of lovemaking - it was coming from her parents' bedroom.'

This is the story of Ruth Cole. It is told in three parts: on Long Island, in the summer of 1958, when she is only four; in 1990, when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career; and in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She's also about to fall in love for the first time...

A masterpiece from one of the great contemporary American writers.

About the Author
John Irving published his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in 1968. He has been nominated for a National Book Award three times - winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. He also received an O. Henry Award in 1981 for the short story 'Interior Space'. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules - a film with seven Academy Award nominations. In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His most recent novel is Last Night in Twisted River.

Reviews
Wickedly knowing, mischievously post-modern and magical realist along the lines of Gunter Grass, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Robertson Davies * Time Out *
Gripping, full of horror and humour * Literary Review *
A compelling chronicle of love and loss... His most intricate and fully imagined novel * San Francisco Chronicle *
Irving's storytelling has never been better * New York Times *
His best since Garp * Time *



Book Information
ISBN 9780552997966
Author John Irving
Format Paperback
Page Count 656
Imprint Black Swan
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 440g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 128mm * 48mm