A Book of Common Prayer
Price: $300.00
Hard Cover. Franklin Center, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library, 1981. Signed Limited Edition. Fine.
Illustrated by Oscar Liebman. Signed limited edition. Signed by Didion on the second front flyleaf. Publisher’s green leather, with boards elaborately decorated in gilt, spine with three raised bands, lettered, decorated, and ruled in gilt, all edges gilt, green silk moire endpapers, and a ribbon bookmark. Fine book. With the supplemental "Notes from the Editors" pamphlet, which has some light spotting to the front wrapper. Overall, a sharp and shining copy. Didion’s third novel, A Book of Common Prayer, centers around the estranged relationship between Charlotte Douglas and her daughter, Marin. Charlotte abandons her failing marriage to go to the fictional country of Boca Grande in Central America with a vague hope of finding her daughter, who is in hiding after engaging in revolutionary acts of domestic terrorism. The story is told from the perspective of Grace Strasser-Mendana, a wealthy and influential widow who lives in Boca Grande. Joyce Carol Oates, in her New York Times review of the book, writes, "Like her narrator, [Didion] has always been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control." Item #JD009
