A novel by Sam Savage
September 13, 2011 5 x 7.7 210 pages 978-1-56689-273-5
From the acclaimed author of Firmin and The Cry of the Slotha widow, aging and alone, tells her side of the story.
Tasked with writing the preface to a reissue of her late husbands long-out-of-print novel, Edna is unexpectedly asked to take care of a vacationing neighbors pet rat, an aquarium of fish, and an apartment full of potted plants. Sitting at her typewriter day after day, her mind drifts from one thing to another in a Proustian marathon of introspection. What eventually unfolds, as if by accident, is the story of a marriage and a portrait of a mind pushed to its limits. The reader is never quite certain if Ednas preface is an homage to her late husband or an act of belated revenge. Is she the cultured and hypersensitive victim of a crass and brutally ambitious husband? Or was Clarence the long-suffering caretaker of a neurotic and delusional wife?
The unforgettable characters in Savages two hit novels Firmin and The Cry of the Sloth garnered worldwide critical acclaim. In Edna, once again Sam Savage has created a character marked by contradictionsimultaneously appealing and exasperating, comical and tragic.
About the Author
Sam Savage is the best-selling author of Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, The Cry of the Sloth, Glass, and The Way of the Dog. A native of South Carolina, Savage holds a PhD in philosophy from Yale University. He was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the PEN L.L. Winship Award, and the Society of Midland Authors Award. Savage resides in Madison, Wisconsin.