Jane Smiley

Durante generaciones, la familia de Larry Cook ha trabajado sin descanso hasta convertir un terreno pantanoso e inhóspito en una de las granjas más prósperas del condado de Zebulon, en Iowa. El propio Larry ha consagrado su vida a este cometido, por eso todos se sorprenden cuando, en mitad de una celebración con vecinos y familiares, comunica la cesión inmediata de la propiedad a sus hijas. Las tres herederas reaccionan de forma muy distinta al anuncio del padre, movidas por sus diferentes personalidades y circunstancias: Ginny es una mujer llena de buenas intenciones, si bien frustrada por su infertilidad; Rose lucha por recuperar su fortaleza tras someterse a un duro tratamiento médico; y Caroline ejerce como abogada en la ciudad, ajena al día a día de la granja. Cuando esta última muestra reticencias ante la rara iniciativa de su padre y la complacencia de sus hermanas, Larry responde excluyéndola tajantemente de la herencia. Este violento arranque no es sino el primer indicio de un comportamiento cada día más indescifrable por parte del patriarca, cuyo historial de arbitrariedad y manipulación comienza a recrudecerse, lo que da lugar a una transformación de las relaciones de las hermanas con su padre y entre ellas mismas.En Heredarás la tierra, la inconfundible voz de Jane Smiley se mimetiza con el paisaje que describe para abordar, desde la ternura y la violencia, temas como el apego, la enfermedad, la lealtad, la insatisfacción, las apariencias y la impronta de los traumas. Esta historia, que recupera y reinterpreta la tragedia shakesperiana de El rey Lear, trasciende los mil acres de la granja de los Cook y revela los conflictos de ser mujer -y esposa, hermana o hija- en un mundo rural superado por la llegada de la modernidad, las secuelas de Vietnam y los anhelos de una generación desconcertada ante el sueño americano.«En este libro poderoso y conmovedor, Jane Smiley toma las verdades contenidas en El rey Lear y las ilumina haciéndolas suyas, y logra que los peligros de la familia, de la propiedad y de ser hija se vuelvan, una vez más, reales, personales, novedosos, honestos e hirientes».Ron Carlson, The New York Times

Desde el instante en que suena en un hipódromo el pistoletazo de salida, y hasta que los caballos alcanzan la meta, se vive una gran excitación; más aún si uno ha apostado. Esa misma sensación produce de principio a fin El paraíso de los caballos, la última novela de la escritora estadounidense Jane Smiley, Premio Pulitzer por Heredarás la tierra (Andanzas 173 y Fábula 99). El paraíso de los caballos transporta al lector al electrizante mundo de las carreras hípicas y de los hipódromos, donde se ponen en juego destinos, grandes sumas de dinero, mucha adrenalina y el esfuerzo de largos años. Los divertidos y variopintos personajes que pueblan esta novela coral, llena de suspense, forman un atractivo fresco: exquisitas propietarias en busca de emociones fuertes y buenos entrenadores que atraviesan un mal momento, aprendices de jockey que contemplan con miedo el futuro y entrenadores inflexibles que no saben perder, administradoras de ranchos y expertas en la comunicación con los caballos… Sus vidas —zarandeadas por el amor y la ambición, los embrollos y los golpes de fortuna— tienen una cosa en común: seis caballos purasangre, los verdaderos protagonistas de la novela. Y algunos de ellos aún tienen que demostrar que han nacido para ganar.

Bob Miller ha creado el paraíso con el que siempre soñó: una granja en lo alto de un valle, a cinco kilómetros del pueblo más cercano, donde él y su esposa Liz viven y crían a su hijo de siete años, Tommy, cultivando su propia comida, hilando y tejiendo su ropa, fabricando sus propios muebles. El mismo construyo la casa en la que habitan, sin telefono ni televisor, sin automovil, sin mas conexion cotidiana con el mundo exterior que los viajes diarios de Tommy a la escuela. Alli viven, piensa Bob, y alli viviran siempre.Bob y Liz se enorgullecen del estilo de vida autosuficiente que han escogido, pero si de algo se siente verdaderamente orgulloso Bob es de Tommy, ese chico entusiasta, receptivo, obediente y dispuesto a dejarse guiar por su padre. Por eso nunca habria imaginado que un dia su hijo fuera capaz de agarrar dos muñecas de una compañera de clase y destrozarlas. Sin embargo, ese dia llega y a Bob le recorre un escalofrio. Algo va mal, realmente mal, y el no lo ha visto venir.En La mejor voluntad, un subito arrebato de violencia es el detonante que removera los cimientos del aparente eden familiar de los Miller. En una narracion que avanza con paso inexorable hasta un final impactante, Jane Smiley, con su distintivo talento para retratar las relaciones familiares, se sumerge en los miedos y las esperanzas que depositamos en nuestros hijos, y una vez mas subraya los modos en que, sin darnos cuenta, boicoteamos nuestros propios sueños, incluso cuando actuamos con la mejor de las intenciones.En La mejor voluntad, Jane Smiley aborda un tema clasico de la literatura,adaptandolo a sus propios intereses, y logra lo que solo los grandes autores consiguen: que sus intereses se vuelvan los nuestros. Esta es la historia de un hombre y su utopia, que, como todas las utopias, alimenta sus propios demonios.Los Angeles TimesLas historias de Jane Smiley exploran con enorme lucidez los laberintosde la vida conyugal y familiar contemporanea. La complejidad emocional y moral que confiere a sus personajes en La mejor voluntadla confirman como una autora de un talento unico.The Washington Post

From the Pulitzer prize-winning author of a thousand acres: a heartwarming, deeply engaging new novel-the life and times of an american farm family over three transformative decades-certain to become

On the morning after the 2003 Academy Awards, Max - an Oscar-winning writer/director whose fame has waned - and his lover, Elena, are in bed, still groggy from last night's red-carpet festivities. They are talking about movies, talking about love, talking about the just-begun war in Iraq. But their house full of guests demands attention. Gathered downstairs are: Max's ex-wife 'the legendary Zoe Cunningham', a dazzling half-Jamaican movie star; their strong-willed daughter, Isabel; Max's agent, Stoney, a too easy-going version of his now-departed agent father; Paul, Zoe's new lover, an enigmatic healer; and a coterie of others. Over the next ten days they share their stories of Hollywood past and present, their fears provoked by the Iraq war; they watch films in Max's luxury screening room; they gossip by the swimming pool and tussle in the many bedrooms, as the tension mounts and sparks fly

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Smiley returns with a sexy, irreverent novel that dives into Hollywood culture and the dynamic personalities that move in its inner circles in the days following the 200

Margaret Mayfield is nearly an old maid at twenty-seven when she marries Captain Andrew Jackson Jefferson Early. He's the most famous man their Missouri town has ever produced: a naval officer and an astronomer - a genius who, according to the local paper, has changed the universe. Margaret's mother calls the match 'a piece of luck'. Yet Andrew confounds Margaret's expectations from the moment their train leaves for his naval base in San Francisco, and soon she realizes that his devotion to science leaves little room for anything, or anyone, else. She stands by him through tragedies both personal and those they share with the nation. But as World War II approaches, Andrew's obsessions take a darker turn, forcing Margaret to reconsider the life she'd so carefully constructed.

Joe Stratford, who sells nice houses in a beautiful place, and whose not very amicable divorce is over, is ready for his life to begin again. It is 1982, morning in America, and temptation is everywhere. And, as Marcus Burns (Joe's new friend from New York) says, the old rules are ready to be broken, Marcus should know: he's just quit his job with the tax man. But are his ideas about how to get rich - really rich - too big and risky for Joe? And what about the real estate development at Salt Key Farm: why is the local savings and loan so eager to lend Marcus and Joe the money for its asking price? And there's Felicity - the daughter of Joe's business partner - who has finally confessed how found she is of Joe. But, Joe wonders, is this winning, free-spirited (already married) woman really the one he's been waiting for? Good Faith is an extraordinary story about ordinary people caught up in the exotic 1980s version of the American Dream - as greed and financial game-playing of the highest and newest order explode on Main Street. By turns poignant, insightful, and outrageous, it is Jane Smiley at her funniest and most slyly astute.

1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK "A WISE, SPIRITED NOVEL . . . [IN WHICH] SMILEY PLUMBS THE WONDROUSLY STRANGE WORLD OF HORSE RACING." --People "ONE OF THE PREMIER NOVELISTS OF HER GENERATION, possessed of a mastery of craft and an uncompromising vision that grow more powerful with each book . . .

National Book Award Nominee A Best Book of the Year: "The Washington Post," NPR, "USA Today," "San Francisco Chronicle," "Financial Times," "The Seattle Times," "St. Louis Post-Dispatch," "BookPage" 1920, Denby, Iowa: Rosanna and Walter Langdon have just welcomed their firstborn son, Frank, into their family farm. He will be the oldest of five. Each chapter in this extraordinary novel covers a single year, encompassing the sweep of history as the Langdons abide by time-honored values and pass them on to their children. with the country on the cusp of enormous social and economic change through the early 1950s, we watch as the personal and the historical merge seamlessly: one moment electricity is just beginning to power the farm, and the next a son is volunteering to fight the Nazis. Later still, a girl we'd seen growing up now has a little girl of her own. The first volume of an epic trilogy from a beloved writer at the height of her powers, "Some Luck" starts us on a literary adventure through cycles of birth and death, passion and betrayal that will span a century in America.

La tercera novela en la deslumbrante Last Hundred Years Trilogy de la ganadora del premio Pulitzer

Its 1987, and the next generation of Langdons is facing economic, social, and political challenges unlike anything their ancestors have encountered.Michael and Richie, twin sons of World War II hero Frank, work in the high-stakes worlds of government and financebut their fiercest enemies may be closer to home. Charlie, the charmer, struggles to find his way; Guthrie is deployed to Iraq, leaving the Iowa family farm in the hands of his younger sister, Felicity who, as always, has her own ideas. Determined to help preserve the planet, she worries that her family farms land is imperiled, and not only by the extremes of climate change.Moving seamlessly from the power-brokered 1980s and the scandal-ridden 90s to our own present moment and beyond, Golden Age combines intimate drama, emotional suspense, and an intricate view of history, bringing to a magnificent conclusion the epic trilogy of one unforgettable family.

Dans un monde où la civilisation s'est effondrée suite à une pandémie foudroyante, une troupe d'acteurs et de musiciens nomadise entre de petites communautés de survivants pour leur jouer du

Un des best-sellers du catalogue, avec plus de 100 000 exemplaires vendus en Rivages poche. Un appartement a New York commence comme un polar mais rapidement le livre devient une variation magnifique sur l'amitie, les ravages du temps et les desillusions. Au coeur du roman, un groupe d'amis venus du Midwest, installes a New York dans les annees 80. Ils pensaient que rien ne viendrait detruire leur relation. Le crime terrible qui frappe deux membres de la bande va tout remettre en cause, prouvant la fragilite de l'existence et des liens qui nous unissent a ceux que nous aimons. Veritable tour de force, le roman conjugue suspense et puissance emotionnelle.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winner: the second installment, following "Some Luck, "of her widely acclaimed, best-selling American trilogy, which brings the journey of a remarkable family with roots in the Iowa heartland into mid-century America "Early Warning" opens in 1953 with the Langdon family at a crossroads. Their stalwart patriarch, Walter, who with his wife, Rosanna, sustained their farm for three decades, has suddenly died, leaving their five children, now adults, looking to the future. Only one will remain in Iowa to work the land, while the others scatter to Washington, D.C., California, and everywhere in between. As the country moves out of post World War II optimism through the darker landscape of the Cold War and the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and 70s, and then into the unprecedented wealth for some of the early 1980s, the Langdon children each follow a different path in a rapidly changing world. And they now have children of their own: twin boys who are best friends and vicious rivals; a girl whose rebellious spirit takes her to the notorious Peoples Temple in San Francisco; and a golden boy who drops out of college to fight in Vietnam leaving behind a secret legacy that will send shock waves through the Langdon family into the next generation. Capturing a transformative period through richly drawn characters we come to know and care deeply for, "Early Warning" continues Smiley s extraordinary epic trilogy, a gorgeously told saga that began with "Some Luck "and will span a century in America. But it also stands entirely on its own as an engrossing story of the challenges and rewards of family and home, even in the most turbulent of times, all while showcasing a beloved writer at the height of her considerable powers. "From the Hardcover edition.""

Jane Smiley's "Thirteen ways of Looking at the Novel" won't help you to deal with the sheer volume of new books that are published nowadays. In fact, weighing in at close to 600 pages, it may actually slow progress towards whatever numerical goal you may have set for 2008. Nonetheless, I urge you, I implore you, to get this book and to take the time to read it. Why? Because if you do, you will never read a novel the same way again. I have read no other book that comes close to this one in terms of enriching my overall reading experience.