Nora Jane: A Life in Stories [Paperback]

Ellen Gilchrist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2005

Since receiving the National Book Award for "Victory Over Japan in 1985, Ellen Gilchrist has developed a fervently devoted readership. This collection's new novella is vintage Gilchrist, taking on the continuing joys and perils of Nora Jane and company.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gilchrist (I, Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting With My Daddy) gathers 14 moving, lightly humorous short stories (previously published) and a novella (new) starring Nora Jane Whittington, as she robs a New Orleans old-boys bar with icy aplomb and sets off, "like a woman in a dream," to meet her faithless lover in San Francisco. Rising above a tragic upbringing, Nora Jane becomes a "self-taught anarchist and quick-change artist" set to scam her way out of the South. But when she pulls her gun on wealthy bookstore owner Freddy Harwood, her steely edge melts in his all-consuming adoration. Then Nora Jane must learn to accept the blessings that rain down upon her, starting when Freddy marries her and raises her gifted twin girls of dubious paternity as if they were his own. Gilchrist finds a font of inspiration in Nora Jane, an intriguing blend of magnolia charm and iron will, and in her circle of friends, whose fierce love and faith invites serendipity at every turn. With insightful, illuminating prose, Gilchrist nimbly slips into their lives, story after story, to meditate on the miracles that see them through dark days. The Berkeley milieu, with its giant Buddha statue that captures Nora Jane's fancy, inspires Gilchrist to spike her writing with a heady optimism, mingling science with mysticism and dabbles of magical realism. Even Freddy's illness brings out the wonders of Gilchrist's world. Frequent overlap between stories cause a few narrative bumps, but that's a minor quibble. Taken together, the stories amount to a stirring saga of a charmed life.
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Good news here for Gilchrist's avid fans. Finally gathered into one book are all the short stories featuring one of her best-loved recurrent characters, Nora Jane Whittington. The Nora Jane stories have appeared sporadically over the years in various of the author's previous collections, and pulled together, they make a delightful companion to Rhoda: A Life in Stories (1995), a compilation about another of Gilchrist's popular recurrent characters, Rhoda Manning. From New Orleans to Berkeley, California, Nora Jane's journey from the child of an alcoholic mother to a middle-aged mother herself and the devoted wife of a truly heroic, equally devoted husband is now laid out in one place. Nora Jane is an admirable character, and Gilchrist's creation of her is a literary triumph. No fiction writer understands his or her own characters better than Gilchrist, which, of course, she always renders in her trademark limpid, humorous, and warm voice; these writerly traits are nowhere more obvious than in a new, previously unpublished novella, which has been included here, called "Fault Lines." It is a crisp-edged, deep-hearted tale about Nora Jane's husband Freddy's bout with cancer. This collection is a major contribution to Gilchrist's oeuvre. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 420 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; 1st edition (August 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316058386
• ISBN-13: 978-0316058384
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,173,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Glossy and pat, November 7, 2005

By 

Marron (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (Paperback)

This book made me feel a bit Scrooge-like. I just couldn't get enchanted with Nora Jane: strong, exquisitely gorgeous Nora Jane, who drives men wild with desire; has a fabulously rich and devoted husband and one loyal male friend (but no women friends I can recall), plus two amazingly gifted (of course!) daughters, and a charismatic little son; and enjoys frequent sumptuous dinners at Chez Panisse....

I came away with no sense of her inner life or three dimensionality, or even what made her so appealing to those who are so devoted to her. (Her husband fell in love with her after she threatened to shoot him! Such is the power of her beauty.) There was also a whole subplot about Iranian assassins that I found racist, and Nora Jane's embracing the role "housewife and mother" (her words) in 1980's Berkeley, California, seemed frankly a tad retrograde. Not a smidgen of conflict, given her social context?

I wanted to be enchanted. Instead, I felt like I was "supposed" to be enchanted, but it never happened.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ellen Gilchrist, Working Her Magic, July 9, 2009

By 

Shaindel Beers (Pendleton, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (Paperback)

Nora Jane: A Life in Stories

I'm pretty sure there's crack sprinkled in the pages of all Ellen Gilchrist's books because, my God, they're addictive! Gilchrist is known for her recurring characters, and this book of a compilation for fans of Nora Jane, beginning with the first Nora Jane story that was published in 1981 and ending in the newest Nora Jane installment, the novella _Fault_Lines_.

I had read other Nora Jane stories in other collections and had fallen in love with the cast of characters--Nora, Sandy, Freddy, Lydia, Tammili, and now I have additional characters--Stella, Nieman, Mitzi, Donovan, and on and on and on. Thank you, Ellen Gilchrist!

Now, if I can only get my recurring characters to turn out so well.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nora Jane's cycle of life and love in one book, August 24, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (Paperback)

As a child, Nora Jane Whittington loved her grandmother's Blue House where the youngster learned that she is the product of generations of strong women who are not afraid to take charge as it is a God gift for them to use their strength when needed. At nineteenth she heads west where her mentor Sandy teaches her to rob people using a prop gun. In the San Francisco Bay area, she tries to rob bookstore owner Freddy Harwood, but instead of leaving him in a wasteland, she ends up sharing his hot tub. She loves both her men and soon gives birth to twins. She chooses Freddy and with him raises their daughters in Berkeley. Over the next two decades, Nora Jane continues her belief to gravitate towards those you love; others follow her lofty ambition. All is joyful in Mudville until Freddy has leukemia. Now Nora Jane has her toughest task of all: bringing all her love into nurturing her beloved

The fourteen short stories have appeared in other publications over the years, but the novella Fault Lines is a new entry that adds to Nora Jane's cycle of life and love. The tales are all well written as most fans already know, but for the first time they appear in one book. The poignant effervescent heroine is perhaps at her best in NORA JANE A LIFE IN STORIES because the well written often amusing bit, always with a serious undertone, comes across more as a biographical fiction than anecdotal shorts. The novella enhances Ellen Gilchrist's wonderful collection.

Harriet Klausner