This House of Women [Hardcover]

Paul Scott Malone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2001

This House of Women opens in the small East Texas town of Karankawa. The year is 1942, and the United States has just entered World War II. Pregnant and alone, nineteen-year-old Hannah Hayward arrives in Karankawa in search of a better life. As her dreams and desires change, Hannah journeys from East Texas to the Big Bend region of far West Texas with her children, transforming houses and lives through her loving labor. In a richly layered novel that is both historical and genealogical, This House of Women follows Hannah and her family across the decades: through the postwar plenty of the 1950s, the perils of Vietnam, and the Texas oil boom and crisis of the 1980s. Texas emerges as a character in its own right. The cityscapes of Houston, the process of change over decades in towns and cities, the landscape of the Chihuahuan desert—all figure into the narrative and add depth to Hannah’s experiences as the reader follows her to places rendered with painterly richness. The story partakes of the Western mythology of starting over but from a distinctly female perspective. Ultimately, Hannah emerges as a pioneer driven by the fierce longing for something different. Hannah’s flight is into connectedness, not isolation; and she takes the reader along on her often difficult but intimately told story. From the wooded roadside of Hannah’s first journey to the sharp vastness of Alpine’s desert, Malone provides a sense of space and atmosphere that engages the reader and adds contour to the events and emotions that transpire in those particular places. —Ann Brigham

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rambling, old-fashioned and thoroughly endearing, Paul Scott Malone's first novel, This House of Women, follows the adventures of Hannah Hayward, who arrives in the small east Texas town of Karankawa in 1942, pregnant and nearly penniless. A warmhearted older couple and a crippled aspiring writer are her first friends, and on the basis of their affection, she goes on to make a decent life for herself. Over the next 40 years, she becomes the linchpin of an unorthodox family, eventually moving across the state to a hill country ranch. Short story writer Malone (In an Arid Land) tackles the novel form with warmth and integrity.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press (September 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896724581
• ISBN-13: 978-0896724587
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,196,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerfully narrated, stalwart story, February 11, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This House of Women (Hardcover)

Paul Malone is a native Texas writer and visual artist. This House Of Women is his novel about the courageous heroine Hannah Hayward. She was pregnant at nineteen in 1942 as the man she loved went off to war. We follow her journey to forge a life for herself and her offspring through the decades of Texas history. This House Of Women is a powerfully narrated, stalwart story rife with emotion and full of life. Highly recommended.