Seasons of the Heart - Softcover

JUDITH WEST has amused, informed, thrilled, and otherwise entertained via stage and studio for more than 20 years. A narrator, director, and writer for audiobooks since 1999, she also coaches narrators and has taught performance and directed at leading Chicago universities, and has extensive experience in print publishing as a writer, editor, and researcher. Judith lives with her rescued cats in a vintage Chicago bungalow off Devon Avenue, the nation’s most ethnically diverse street. Fittingly, she counts ethnic cooking, travel, and antiques among her pleasures.

A youthful marriage frees Ann Pollock from an unhappy home life. While her mother-in-law doesn't initially welcome the shop girl her son loves, the thrifty bride soon proves her worth by supporting her in-laws after Phillip Coulter volunteers to serve in World War II. Crushed by the tortures of a Japanese prison camp, Phillip returns to civilian life to find his once-proud mother incapacitated by a stroke and his dreams of a bright future reduced to an ill-paying job as a law clerk. The birth of a daughter, Eva, brings joy to the Coulters, but as money worries mount, Ann takes a job in a real estate office despite her husband's objections. With each successful deal, the marriage becomes more hollow, and Ann is devastated when Phillip deserts her. Though a new love assuages her pain, that relationship disintegrates after a botched abortion leaves Eva sterile. The Coulters than reunite, and just when things start to work out, Phillip suffers a stroke, followed by Allzheimer's disease. The first third of the book offers a poignant look at an earlier era, but the constant catastrophes and labored solutions make the trials of Job seem minor. Freeman is the author of Illusions of Love. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild featured alternate.
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