A Widow for One Year - John Irving

"I work with ink." Ted Cole describes his work as a children's author and illustrator thus, to the amusement of many who see this as less than the usual literary affectation (rather than, as it is, more). But then Ted IS this charming man. Ruth, his daughter, loves him in a way she could never love her stunning but ice-cold mother, Marion, who in turn is forever protected from loving another child by the heartbreak she sustained when her two beloved sons were robbed from her. In this damaged and fractured relationship, four-year-old Ruth Cole is introduced to us. The novel that follows traces her through three key stages of her life, first childhood, ...  Read the complete review

You find yourself in a bookshop- well, I do anyway! And as you peruse the shelves, passing the time of day (being careful to avoid looking at the erotica section, you never know what you will see!), you don't half come across some weird and wacky book titles. In my opinion there are one or two titles that haven't been used that should have been. My favourite is: 'Dieting with Prunes and Syrup of Figs - The 'S' Plan Diet'. But I digress as ever. There is one author whose titles are very striking and, once you get to know his style, there are certain things that you look for and cherish- not that there is any similarity ...  Read the complete review

A typical John Irving novel, full of sexual shenanigans, dirty old men, eccentrics and multiple, generation crossing plots. It's the story of Ruth Cole, a soulful novelist destined to be, as the title has it, a widow for one year, her father Ted Cole, a womanising children's author, and Eddie, an old flame of her absent mother, desperately obsessed with older women since his teenage liaisons with her. There are some odd diversions here - somehow, Ruth gets involved with in a murder hunt for a serial killer of prostitutes halfway through - but what impresses about 'A Widow for One Year' is Irving's confidence in balancing so many subplots, and ...  Read the complete review

A widow for one year is a compelling story of love, loss and resolution. This is the first John Irving book I have read and it is the best book I have read in a while. His ability to paint a picture, as it were, is remarkable, and his humorous and awkward approach to the sexual encounters in the book makes you feel akin to Eddie, we have all had those moments. Each of the characters in the book are irresistible in their own unique way and in some way we relate to them all. Ted Cole is a man slowly losing all that is important to him. He is an accomplished writer of children’s books who seems detached from his true reality. The tragedy of his twin sons ...  Read the complete review