OLIVE, AGAIN by Strout, Elizabeth - 2019

New York City, NY: Random House, 2019. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Random House, 2019. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 290 pages. The author's seventh novel. One of Elizabeth Strout's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the British Edition, copies that are signed on a tipped-in page, and the Oprah Book Club Selection. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Elizabeth Strout's "Olive, Again". The sequel to "Olive Kitteridge", her most beloved creation, written in the same Alice Munro-like format as the original: Thirteen interrelated stories that have the cumulative effect and power of a full-fledged novel. Improbably for our youth-oriented entertainment American (and global) culture, Strout gives us a heroine approaching and coming to terms with old age and then, very old age. "Dwells with uncanny immediacy inside the minds and hearts of a dazzling range of ages: The young (with their confusion, wonder, awakening sexuality) , the middle-aged (envy, striving, compromise) , the old (failing bodies, societal shunning, late revelations) . The naked pain, dignity, wit, and courage these stories consistently embody fill us with a steady, wrought comfort" (The Washington Post) . Sequels rarely work. This one does, triumphantly and indispensably so. An absolute "must-have" title for Elizabeth Strout collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and dated (in the year of publication) in black pen-marker on the title page by the author: "Elizabeth Strout 12.3.19". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page, as copies available online are. Unlike her recent signatures, it is signed in full instead of slightly abbreviated (or drastically so, as in "Liz", in the case of her tipped-in page signature) . Laid-in is a pristine copy of the Souvenir Material of the event during which her signature was obtained. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed and publication-year dated copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Precedes and should NOT be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the British Edition, copies that are signed on a tipped-in page, and the Oprah Book Club Selection. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for "Olive Kitteridge". One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ELIZABETH STROUT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0812996542.