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Jane Davies

by Douglas Nordfors

285 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #05-2055; ISBN 1-4120-7160-7; US$20.50, C$23.58, EUR16.84, £11.79

Writers as diverse as William Golding and Thomas Pynchon have used the London Blitz as a literary metaphor, but none through the lens of an American story about intellectual friendship.

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About the Book

About the Author

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About the Book

Jane Davies, nearing her 30s, has lived her whole life on Long Island in "her father's house" as Emily Dickinson would say. Now that her father has died, and her mother has moved away, the house is officially owned by her brother, Jeremy. As the story opens, the house has three occupants: Jane, Jeremy, and Jeremy's wife, Karen - and it's about to have four.

At a party in the summer of 2000, shallow Jeremy and brooding Edward Larson, trying to deal with his separation from his wife, strike up an odd friendship. Edward is inexplicably intrigued by a fact he learns about Jeremy's father - that his parents died during World War II in the London Blitz after he had been evacuated from the city. And Jeremy is strangely determined to be pals with Edward, despite their different personalities.

His determination goes as far as inviting Edward to come live at his house when the owners of the apartment Edward is borrowing want it back. Edward accepts Jeremy's offer, and is subsequently drawn into a whole new, strange world. Is the reclusive, eccentric Jane really as crazy as she seems? Why does it seem so important to Jeremy that she and Edward collaborate on a memoir about her and Jeremy's father? How can Edward avoid collaborating with Jane and still pursue his interest in the family's past? Will he ever become true friends with Jane? Is Jeremy's seemingly tepid yet clearly conflict-free marriage to Karen in trouble? Is Karen as attracted to Edward as Edward is to Karen?

As the puzzles unfold, the action is interrupted by a flash-forward. Edward has moved out of the house and is on a visit to London, in pursuit of some longing he can't quite understand. There he meets a woman - he doesn't know if he wants her to be Jane or Karen - whose company sends him even deeper into the mysteries of the past few months, allowing him to meditate on history and the human condition.

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About the Author

Douglas Nordfors was born and raised in Seattle. He is a graduate of Columbia University (BA) and The University of Virginia (MFA). He has published poems in The Iowa Review, Quarterly West, Poet Lore, Poetry Northwest, California Quarterly, and many other journals, and has taught creative writing and literature at Milton Academy in Boston, The University of Virginia, and James Madison University. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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