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After traveling the world to exotic lands, Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie-now widowed but still witches-return to the Rhode Island seaside town of Eastwick, "the scene of their primes," site of their enchanted mischief more than three decades ago. Diabolical Darryl Van Horne is gone, and what was once a center of license and liberation is now a "haven of wholesomeness" populated by hockey moms and househusbands acting out against the old ways of their own absent, experimenting parents. With spirits still willing but flesh weaker, the three women must confront a powerful new counterspell of conformity. In this wicked and wonderful novel, John Updike is at his very best-a legendary master of literary magic up to his old delightful tricks.
About the author
John Updike, geboren 1932 in Shillington/Pennsylvania; Kindheit in materieller Bedrücktheit; 1950 Stipendium zum Studium am Harvard College, Hauptfach Anglistik; Abschluss des Untergraduiertenstudiums 1954 mit summa cum laude. 1953 Heirat mit der Kunststudentin Mary Entwistle Pennington, mit ihr zusammen - nach dem Studium - ein Jahr an die Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford/England. Rückkehr in die USA. 1955 - 57 fest angestellt beim Magazin 'The New Yorker', danach freier Mitarbeiter mit Veröffentlichung von Kurzgeschichten sowie einflussreicher literarischer Kritiken. 1957 Umzug nach Ipswich im neuenglischen Massachusetts. 1964 Vortragsreisen durch die UdSSR, Rumänien, Bulgarien und Tschechien. Seit 1964 Mitglied des National Institute of Arts and Letters. 1973 Fulbright-Lektor in Afrika. 1976 Mitglied der American Academy of Arts and Letters. Auszeichnungen: 1983 Lincoln Literary Award und Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award, 1988 St. Louis Literary Award, 1989 National Medal of Arts, 1991 Premio Scanno, 1993 Common Wealth Award und Conch Republic Prize for Literature, 1995 Commandeur de l'ordre des arts et des lettres und The Howells Medal from the Adademy of Arts and Letters. John Updike verstarb 2009.
Report
"Ingenious . . . This isn't writing. It is magic."- New York Times Book Review
"With its fiery energy and wicked humor, The Widows of Eastwick is a truly enjoyable book to read [and] might just be [John Updike's] best novel since 1990's Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit at Rest ."- Kansas City Star
"Dazzling Updikean prose . . . Here's a bet his work will keep fresh for generations, inciting laughter, wonder and sensuous shivers."- Los Angeles Times
"An amusing romp . . . made unexpectedly moving by the author's profundity and his renowned dexterity with language . . . [Updike is a] master of making us want to guffaw and weep in the same sentence."- Houston Chronicle
"Elegant prose and unfailing wit . . . There is moral courage in these pages. And kindness too."- Washington Times
