Books

Item Description

Among the talented writers who appeared in The Loft this year was Andre Dubus III, who was interviewed by writer Joyce Maynard.  If you missed his visit to Portsmouth, don’t miss this chance for an autographed hardcover copy of his latest book, Gone So Long. 

And because we are nice people, we also are including in this package a signed copy of Maynard’s 2011 memoir.

Gone So Long by Andre Dubus III

Autographed & Hardcover

The award-winning author of Townie and House of Sand and Fog returned to the Loft on October 26, 2018 with his first novel in a decade, a masterpiece of thrilling tension and heartrending empathy.

For as long as she can remember, Susan Dunn has been trying to escape. But peace and happiness have always eluded her—now an adjunct professor, she is tortured by the novel she cannot finish, and a lack of feeling toward a husband who loves her. Just when she’s ready to abandon everything to try again, she is forced to reckon with the trauma that first sent her running: her mother’s murder at the hands of her father, Daniel Ahearn, forty years ago. Daniel, out of prison and living a spartan life, has written to Susan…

Probing the limits of our capacity to forgive, Gone So Long is a profound exploration of the struggle between our best intentions and most mercurial desires.

The Best of Us: A Memoir by Joyce Maynard

Autographed & Softcover

In 2011, when she was in her late fifties, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim wore a rakish hat over a good head of hair; he asked real questions and gave real answers; he loved to see Joyce shine, both in and out of the spotlight; and he didn’t mind the mess she made in the kitchen. He was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of.

Before they met, both had believed they were done with marriage, and even after they married, Joyce resolved that no one could alter her course of determined independence. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the nineteen months that followed, as they battled his illness together, she discovered for the first time what it really meant to be a couple--to be a true partner and to have one.

This is their story. Charting the course through their whirlwind romance, a marriage cut short by tragedy, and Joyce’s return to singleness on new terms, The Best of Us is a heart-wrenching, ultimately life-affirming reflection on coming to understand true love through the experience of great loss.

Donated by: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, NH

Item Special Note

• Winner must pick up this item at The Music Hall Box Office, Monday-Saturday, 12:00pm-6:00pm, after November 20th.
• Item is non-transferable.
• Item is not redeemable for cash.