When Link Williams, a college-educated twenty-six-year-old African-American man, falls for Camilo Sheffield, a wealthy married white woman, things will never be the same in the sleepy New England town of Monmouth, Connecticut. Set in the 1950s, this unforgettable classic deftly evokes a tragic love affair and offers a window onto the powerful ways in which class, race, and love intersected in midcentury America.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A novel about racial conflict, The Narrows resists classification . . . Ann Petry has achieved something as rare as it is commendable." -- Arna Bontemps
"Using a theme that might have been merely sensational, [Petry] builds a novel that has depth and dignity." The New York Herald-Tribune
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"Using a theme that might have been merely sensational, [Petry] builds a novel that has depth and dignity." The New York Herald-Tribune
About the Author
Ann Petry (1908-1997), a black novelist, short story writer, and writer of books for young people, is one of America's most distinguished authors. Ann began by studying pharmacology, and in 1934, received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Connecticut College of Pharmacy. She worked as a registered pharmacist in Old Saybrook and in Lyme, and during these years wrote several short stories. When she married George David Petry in 1938, the course of her life changed. They lived in New York City, and Ann went to work for the Harlem Amsterdam News. By 1941, she was covering general news stories and editing the women's pages of the People's Voice in Harlem. Her first published story appeared in 1943 in the Crisis, a magazine published monthly by the NAACP. Subsequent to that, she began work on her first novel, The Street, which was published in 1946 and for which she received the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. Mrs. Petry has written two more novels, The Country Place and The Narrows, and numerous short stories, articles and children's books. In addition, she was appointed visiting professor of English at the University of Hawaii (1944 - 45) and has lectured widely throughout the United States. Ann returned with her husband to Old Saybrook in 1947 and lived there until here death. They have one daughter.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless Writing,
By Booklover "TruGift" (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Narrows: A Novel (Paperback)
The Narrows was written in 1953. Amazing. Timeless love story of a Dartmouth grad of history who happens to be black and a rich married heiress who happens to be white. Their lives intersect one night in Harlem and continue down a dangerous road of love, passion, and retribution. The star of the book is Link Williams, a young man adopted at the age of eight by Abbie Crunch and the Major. When the Major dies, Link feels invisible and finds a new home in the Last Chance bar where Bill Hod becomes his surrogate father, teaching Link what it means to be a man, a black man. He grows up strong and intelligent, but faltering in one area. The area of love. The woman that he chooses, the one he wants to marry unbeknownst to him is already married. Worst of all she is white. This breaks many hearts, the people who have loved him and taken care of him, Abbie Crunch, Weak Knees, Bill Hod, and the rest of the Last Chance patrons where Link is the heart and soul, all watch as he make this fatal mistake. Phenomenal writing, literature, pure art without the sensationalism that is prevalent in our books today.
3.0 out of 5 stars
I am not sure that I will be able to finish this book.,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Narrows (Paperback)
I purchased this book because I loved "The Street".
However, I find this book to be very difficult to read. It is a slow read and hard to follow. I don't think that I will be able to continue reading this book.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
forbidden love in new england,
This review is from: The Narrows: A Novel (Paperback)
this one is about a interracial couple in connecticut in the 1950's...ms petry manages to handle this story with a cool handle never allow it to become merely tabloid fodder..some of the other plots that were interesting was link's relationship with bill hod, who was practically his father and the butler who marries a promisculous heavy-set black women...
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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black barkeep, big fat colored woman, bee gray, outside back stairs, colored feller, pale yellow hair, poor peons, copper hood Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Hod, Dumble Street, Weak Knees, The Last Chance, Miss Camilo, Miss Doris, Mamie Powther, New York, Old Copper, Link Williams, Franklin Avenue, The Hangman, The Moonbeam, The Narrows, Missus Crunch, Miss Jackson, The Race, The Hotel, Dock Street, Bob White, Old Man John the Barber, Cat Jimmie, Treadway Hall, Miss Dwight, Mamie Smith Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
black barkeep, big fat colored woman, bee gray, outside back stairs, colored feller, pale yellow hair, poor peons, copper hood Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Hod, Dumble Street, Weak Knees, The Last Chance, Miss Camilo, Miss Doris, Mamie Powther, New York, Old Copper, Link Williams, Franklin Avenue, The Hangman, The Moonbeam, The Narrows, Missus Crunch, Miss Jackson, The Race, The Hotel, Dock Street, Bob White, Old Man John the Barber, Cat Jimmie, Treadway Hall, Miss Dwight, Mamie Smith Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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