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Sleeping Beauties
by Moore, Susanna
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very good
- ISBN 10
- 0394582802
- ISBN 13
- 9780394582801
- Seller
-
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. [8], 231, [1] pages. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads For Frances Susanna Moore. Like her much-acclaimed previous novels, Susanna Moore's Sleeping Beauties is set in Hawaii, whose shimmering beauty and melancholy traditions are both seductive and dangerously hard to leave. Or so they prove for Clio, who marries a well-known Hollywood actor--providing her with the promise of escape from the entanglements of island life. Susanna Moore (born December 9, 1945) is an American writer and teacher. Born in Pennsylvania but raised in Hawaii, Moore worked as a model and script reader in Los Angeles and New York City before beginning her career as a writer. Her first novel, My Old Sweetheart, published in 1982, earned a PEN Hemingway nomination, and won the Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She followed this with The Whiteness of Bones in 1989, and her third novel, Sleeping Beauties, in 1993. All three of these novels were set in Hawaii and charted dysfunctional family relationships. Moore gained particular critical notice for her fourth novel, In the Cut (1995), which marked a departure from her previous works in both setting and content, concerning a New York City teacher who has a sexual affair with a detective investigating violent murders and dismemberments in her neighborhood. It was adapted into a 2003 feature film of the same name by director Jane Campion. Derived from a Kirkus review: Once upon a time, a young girl, fleeing her wicked stepmother, runs away to live with her mysterious aunt and her blind grandmother and grows up to marry a handsome movie star. But, title notwithstanding, this is not part of any simple fairy tale—it's Moore's third novel, another lush and haunting Hawaiian lament. Clio Lynott, like Moore's earlier heroines is a child cut adrift from her parents and deeply attuned to the mythology and exotic landscape of her homeland. In Clio's case, this affinity for all things Hawaiian is encouraged by her aunt Emma Fitzroy, who teaches her ``the long songs without rhyme called meles, the hulas and oral genealogies; the very history of her passing race.'' It is the weight of all this history that eventually causes Clio to escape into a loveless marriage with Tommy Haywood, a small-minded, big-time Hollywood star. For a while, Clio deceives herself, believing in happily ever after, but soon it becomes clear that not all Prince Charmings are created equal. Ultimately, though, it is Hawaii and all its history—her own history—that draws the aptly named Clio back home to stay with Emma and Mabel, her blind and ancient grandmother. As a heroine, Clio is always vivid. Moore's writing, as ever, almost glows with tropical heat. The Hawaii we see here is enchanting, dangerous, and at the brink of being lost forever. Moore locates it permanently for us- -just midway between fever dream and fairy tale.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ground Zero Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 86313
- Title
- Sleeping Beauties
- Author
- Moore, Susanna
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition [stated], presumed first printing
- ISBN 10
- 0394582802
- ISBN 13
- 9780394582801
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1993
- Keywords
- Hawaii, Clio Lynott, Emmy Fitzroy, Hula, Tommy Haywood, Hollywood, Escape, Family, Relationships
Terms of Sale
Ground Zero Books
Books are offered subject to prior sale. Satisfaction guaranteed. If you notify us within 7 days that you are not satisfied with your purchase, we will refund your purchase price when you return the item in the condition in which it was sold.
About the Seller
Ground Zero Books
Biblio member since 2005
Silver Spring, Maryland
About Ground Zero Books
Founded and operated by trained historians, Ground Zero Books, Ltd., has for over 30 years served scholars, collectors, universities, and all who are interested in military and political history.
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Much of our diverse stock is not yet listed on line. If you can't locate the book or other item that you want, please contact us. We may well have it in stock. We welcome your want lists, and encourage you to send them to us.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- A.N.
- The book is pristine and free of any defects, in the same condition as ...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...