Product Description

This celebrated collection opens with "Nora Jane and Company, " featuring one of the most popular characters in the Gilchrist galaxy. The nine stories that follow explore the hazards of recapturing and reviving old affairs. Featuring both new and familiar Gilchrist characters, all of these stories shed brilliant new light on the oldest emotion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2880537 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
The short stories in the first half of this collection feature Nora Jane Whittington, one of Ellen Gilchrist's familiar characters, and through Nora Jane and her family and friends, Gilchrist explores the complex balancing of relationships. The stories in the second half have many varying points of view--including a non-human one, that of a bear cub. These thoughtful tales, alive with vivid description, revolve around the tensions between the mind and the body, and between what is desired and what is achievable.

From Publishers Weekly
The novella that occupies more than half of this satisfying volume displays many of Gilchrist's characteristics: the reappearance of characters encountered in previous works; frequent foreshadowing and flashbacks; a mix of the mundane and the miraculous; and copious literary and scientific references?all employed in the service of an eventful story. "Nora Jane and Company" reprises the eponymous character whom we last saw giving birth to twins, in Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle. Here, the twins are now 10; Nora Jane is 29 and happily married to Freddy Harwood. As usual, all the players in a sizable cast of characters are larger than life: they live spontaneously, even recklessly; they have lots of money and spend it freely and frivolously; they are ruled by passionate emotions fueled by brilliant insights and sudden visions. In the course of the novella, Nora Jane, Freddy and the twins' godfather, journalist and film critic Neiman Gluuk, experience a terrorist assassination of one of their friends; enroll at Berkeley for graduate studies; survive an emergency in the California wilderness; and participate in a minor miracle that employs the long arm of coincidence and a cloak worn by the spirit of Leonardo da Vinci. Gilchrist's matter-of-fact prose carries a gloss of melodrama, and her characters are given to pontificating (about such matters as the fatwa against Salman Rushdie), didactic speeches (about the makeup of the universe, etc.) and outlandish behavior. Nine additional stories make up the second section. One of them centers on Nora Jane as a "very special, charismatic" child (Gilchrist is particularly good with children's and teenagers' dialogue), and all are imbued with wry humor, nostalgia for lost innocence and gratitude for the power of memory to enrich life. Gilchrist's hand is sure, her vision keen and sometimes antic, and the world she has created in 12 previous books is expanded and enhanced by these luminous tales.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This delightful collection of stories features the complexities of love between lovers, between friends, and between parents and children. The first section consists of related stories set in Berkeley that revolve around one of Gilchrist's recurring characters, Nora Jane Whittington, and her family and friends: her wealthy husband, Freddy, owner of an independent bookstore; their twin ten-year-old daughters; and Freddy's best friend, Nieman, a San Francisco Chronicle film critic. When Nieman marries scientist Stella, Gilchrist weaves in a poignant story about Stella's cousin, who adopts two difficult girls after losing her four-year-old daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing. A second section of unrelated stories completes the collection, including one about a young man dying of AIDS who adopts an injured dog and another about a middle-aged woman reminded of the past by a former boyfriend. Gilchrist's strength lies in her well-drawn characters, who are intelligent, complex, thoughtful, and full of good intentions. Her stories are addictive and will lead readers to her other collections, the most recent of which is Rhoda, a Life in Stories (LJ 9/1/95). Highly recommended.?Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Love, Knowledge, And Beauty Redeem
In "The Courts of Love", Ms. Gilchrist transports us to a world where beauty, love and knowledge are the guiding tenets of existence. The characters throughout the stories are whacky to the max, but insanely likable for just this reason--they marvel at the wonder and beauty that life offers, clumsily reach for meaningful connections with others, and seek answers to life's larger questions.

The writing flows and characters emerge full-blown, their emotions so finely and wisely explored that you just want to sit down with Ms. Gilchrist and have a good talk; you know she knows a lot.

I've been a big fan of Ms. Gilchrist since I read, "Drunk With Love" in college more than 10 years ago and have devoured nearly every one of her novels and collections of short stories(some not as perfect as this)since. I'd love to get as many of you out there hooked on her work as possible; it's literature at it's best--transforming!

An excellent exploration of ordinary daily lives
In this mixed collection, Gilchrist shows her versatility by changing the points of view to a woman, a man, a 7-year old girl, a bear, and even a wounded dog. The stories are life affirming, in the sense that the protagonists are "good people" who sometimes do a little praying and say Amen. The situations are not usually exciting, though there is one violent death. The characters explore loss, new relationships, changes of direction in their lives, and are not afraid to reach out and grasp opportunities. This is work by an author who is very sure of her medium and her skill. I found it thought-provoking and greatly interesting.

Great New Author For Me
I am always searching for a new "find" - authors-wise - and Gilchrist is it! I love her clear writing style. I feel like I am the other half of a conversation with her - with funny remarks like "The rest is private" when she is describing an intimate moment between two characters. Her stories are "by the way" stories that stay with you after you put the book away. I can't wait to read more of her stuff.