With literary legerdemain, first novelist Denham wins readers' affection for her cranky, bedridden, demanding narrator Eula B., whose refrain, as she lives out her last days amid the plastic geraniums in her daughter's trailer, is that the old ways were better. That she's right only makes her harder to love; the reader's fondness for her is evidence of the author's prowess as she creates a seamless picture of a life in rural Mississippi that nearly spanned this century. Until two strokes forced her to move in with her daughter, Eula B. toiled--contentedly--at the one place that mattered to her--the dirt farm that had belonged to her mother's father. Those many years are gradually revealed as Eula B. recalls events of her earlier life with her much-loved Mama and Papa, and her brothers, admirable Ollie and angry Q.C., who ``seemed to bruise and scald everything he touched,'' according to her sister Mattie. No sentiment blurs Eula B.'s sharply focused last efforts to make sense of her fi

A Scrambling After Circumstance

Literature & Fiction

Denman, Margaret-Love

Literary

Penguin

A Southern woman left bedridden after two strokes tries to reconcile her past as a hard-working, self-reliant farmer's daughter with her present as a dependant of her alienated daughter living in a trailer home

A Scrambling after Circumstance

Viking Adult

Novel Ideas provides a substantial introduction to the elements of fiction followed by in-depth interviews with successful novelists who speak with candor and insight into the complex process by which a novel is made. This edition includes new and updated interviews as well as writing exercises to enhance its use in the writing classroom. Dorothy Allison recalls "deliciously self-indulgent" days of writing in her bathrobe, wrapped in misery and exultation; Peter Cameron explains how he made the move from short fiction to the novel with the aid of a music composer's notebook to track the movement of his characters. Writers as different as Ha Jin, Jill McCorkle, Richard Ford, and Michael Chabon describe their unique approaches to their work while consistently affirming the necessity of committing to the hard effort of it while also remaining open to surprise. Aspiring novelists will find hands-on strategies for beginning, working through, and revising a novel; accomplished novelists will discover new ways to solve the problems they face in process; and serious readers of contemporary fiction will enjoy a glimpse into the way novels are made. Includes interviews with:Dorothy AllisonLarry BrownPeter CameronMichael ChabonMichael CunninghamRobb Forman DewRichard FordHa JinPatricia HenleyCharles JohnsonWally LambValerie MartinJill McCorkleSena Jeter NaslundLewis NordanSheri ReynoldsS. J. RozanJane SmileyLee SmithTheodore Weesner

Novel Ideas: Contemporary Authors Share the Creative Process

Reference

Shoup, Barbara

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

University of Georgia Press

Awaiting execution for the murder of her pimp, Theresa Marie Magnarelli, or Traci as she now calls herself, forms a bizarre relationship with Tory Gardiner, the new widow of her court- appointed defense attorney. Daily, Before Your Eyes follows the unlikely journey of these two women into the dark world of Death Row, exposing Junior Leaguer Tory Gardiner to the lies of her own world as well as the realities of a larger world she has never known. An unlikely bond develops between these women—one, a sheltered member ofthe middle class, the other streetwise and turning tricks by the time she was sixteen. They find a commonality in daughters they both loved and lost and in their dependence on men who disappointed them. While appealing Traci’s conviction, they both seek redemption: Tory for her husband’s negligence and Traci for her life.

Daily, Before Your Eyes: A Novel

Michigan State University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Denman, Margaret-Love. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Denman, Margaret-Love