The Habit of Widowhood [Paperback]

Robert Barnard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 2009

A young girl is brought up in seclusion by her elderly parents who are obsessed with isolating her from the sinfulness of life in the wicked world. When, to secure her future, they marry her off to an elderly widower, they set in motion events more terrible than the most hateful of parents could have foreseen. A woman with an enticing sexual secret marries an elderly gentleman - and then another and another. It is all too easy, it seems, to get into the habit of widowhood. A young soldier, home from World War I, is determined to live and love not just for himself, but for all his fallen comrades. But in doing so he enrages a number of husbands. A man going through a midlife crisis meets the bully who made his life hell at school. Some things never change, he discovers, including the taste for inflicting pain.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Crime master Barnard is at his roguish best in the short form as he effortlessly shifts these 17 tales through emotional and narrative gears. The act of murder is viewed through the eyes of a dog; an overabundance of "bliss" leaves a slew of older husbands dead and a merry young widow blessed with multiple inheritances; a randy old soldier who returns from the war to offer comfort to wives and widows gets his during a genteel game of bowls. A lifelong liberal, Barnard takes a special delight in skewering the privileged classes, often by letting driven working women cut a savage swath through legions of dull old boys. Occasionally, Barnard gets a shade gothic: a man imagines the son he never had and pays a steep price for his newfound happiness; a shy, secluded young woman is bartered into a disastrous marriage. Only once does the author stumble, as a violent sexual relationship between two men segues into theft. The wealth of ideas and inventions here might well be hoarded by other authors for a series of novels, but Barnard has such profligate wit and imagination that he can afford to deliver this abundance in a single volume.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this collection of 17 stories, Barnard (The Bad Samaritan, LJ 8/95), reveals the wide range of mood seen in his full-length mysteries. The title story, for example, details a young woman's propensity for marrying one elderly man after another. From a master of character, wit, and innuendo.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Reprint edition (January 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439157375
• ISBN-13: 978-1439157374
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,573,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Warning -- not your usual Barnard, April 8, 2009

By 

birdwalker "birdwalker" (Friday Harbor, WA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Habit of Widowhood (Hardcover)

One of the reasons I am working my way joyfully through all Robert Barnard's books is that he doesn't insert gratuitous scenes of sex and/or violence (emphasis on gratuitous). His earlier books in particular concentrate on marvelous character development, literate and witty writing, and skewering the evil. shoddy, and pretentious. The only added ingredient in this book of short stories is a very noir, occasionally grotesque, and, in one story, desperately sad and twisted slant on humanity. The only story I would care to RE-read is "Post Mortem".