The Widow's Children

A Novel

By: Paula Fox

Narrated by: Jenna Berk

On the eve of their trip to Africa, Laura Maldonada Clapper and her husband, Desmond, sit in a New York City hotel room, drinking scotch-and-sodas and awaiting the arrival of three guests: Clara, Laura's timid daughter from a previous marriage; Carlos, Laura's flamboyant brother; and Peter, a melancholy editor whom Laura hasn't seen for over a year. But what begins as a bon voyage party soon becomes a bitter, claustrophobic clash of family resentment. From the hotel room to the tiny restaurant to which the five embark, Laura presides over the escalating innuendo and hostility with imperial cruelty, for she is hiding the knowledge that her mother, the family matriarch, has died of a heart attack that morning. Intense and unerringly observed, The Widow's Children is a tour de force from the incomparable Paula Fox.

©1976, 1986 Paula Fox, Introduction copyright 1999 by Andrea Barrett (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A classic American novel from the author of Borrowed Finery -- 'Chekhovian...Every line of Fox's story, every gesture of her characters, is alive and surprising.” (New York Times)

Ehh

Honestly, there wasn’t a single likable character in this story. I was really hoping that there would be some sort of redemption arch for any of them… there wasn’t.