In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Ellen Gilchrist's acclaimed 1981 debut collection of short stories, introduced readers to a remarkable Southern voice which has sustained its power and influence through her more than 20 subsequent books. Gilchrist has a distinctive ear for language, and a deep understanding of her flawed, sometimes tragic characters. These fourteen stories, divided into three sections—There's a Garden of Eden, Things Like the Truth, and Perils of the Nile—are about mostly young, upper-class Southern women who are bored with the Junior League and having babies, and chafe against the restrictions of their sheltered lives. Talented and bright, but living in the shadow of men—their husbands and fathers—they resort to outrageous actions in pursuit of freer lives and uncompromised love, despite the consequences. This collection first introduced readers to some of Gilchrist's most beloved characters, such as Rhoda Manning and Nora Jane...

At the heart of Ellen Gilchrist's novel is the incorrigible Amanda McCamey. Leaving a troubled past behind, she marries into New Orleans' high society but finds the privileged world stifling and unsatisfying. Seeking a quieter, more meaningful life, she divorces and moves to the Ozarks where she translates poetry and surrounds herself with artists and intellectuals. Her friend Katie, a brilliant sculptor, brings out the wild child in Amanda, but it is Will, an intense young musician, who captivates her. What begins as a sexual tryst quickly becomes a grand and impossible passion that mirrors the life of the eighteenth-century French poet whose work Amanda is translating. But her new life is interrupted when her past comes back to haunt her. With beauty, humor, and luminescent prose, Gilchrist paints an evocative portrait of a woman finally coming into her own.Praise:"Gilchrist's accomplished first novel is absorbing, rich, and evocative as she explores the heart and mind...

"Gilchrist excels in drawing the bonds of love and resentment in sexual and family relationships, and no one who encounters her characters here or in her earlier works will want to miss reading about them again." —Publishers WeeklyTo Anna Hand, death happens when you allow it to.An accomplished author with a string of devoted lovers, Anna Hand savors life in all of its bittersweet, fleeting moments. So when she gets a letter from the illegitimate child of her brother, she sees a major part of life that has passed her by, a child to love. Desperate to unite this young girl with her father, Anna moves back to Charlotte, North Carolina, to rediscover her family and convince her brother to accept the daughter he knew nothing about.Caught between the politics of her uppercrust family and love for a married man, Anna finds her health in serious danger. When Anna's bad days catch up with her good ones, she must finally face the disease that had been hiding...

Celebrated author Ellen Gilchrist has played many roles-writer and speaker, wife and lover, mother and grandmother. But she never tackled the role of teacher.Offered the opportunity to teach creative writing at the University of Arkansas, she took up the challenge and ventured into unknown territory. In the process of teaching more than two hundred students since her first class in 2000, she has found inspiration in their lives and ambitions and in the challenge of conveying to them the lessons she has learned from living and writing.The Writing Life brings together fifty essays and vignettes centered on the transforming magic of literature and the teaching and writing of it. A portion of the collection discusses the delicate balance between an artistic life and family commitments, especially the daily pressures and frequent compromises faced by a young mother. Gilchrist next focuses on the process of writing itself with essays ranging from "How I Wrote a Book of...

"A winning collection, filled with humor, love, and just enough human meanness to make things interesting. Gilchrist knows how to tell a story." —Kirkus An indomitable cast of characters comes alive in this collection of shorts and a novella from acclaimed author Ellen Gilchrist. The unsinkable Nora Jane Whittington returns in "Nora Jane and Company," now married and the mother of twins. But when a chance encounter between her husband and an old boyfriend leads to disaster, a pro-life protest turns deadly, and a camping trip proves nearly fatal, she'll have to survive quite a lot to protect her happy home life. In the short stories that follow, old love affairs are revived, a dog caught in a domestic dispute finds an unlikely new home, and the bonds that tie families are once again explored with the deft hand for which Gilchrist is known. "Imbued with wry humor, nostalgia for lost innocence and gratitude for the power of memory to enrich life....

Fiction from a National Book Award-winning author and "short-story writer of substantial gifts and reputation" (The New York Times). From National Book Award Winner Ellen Gilchrist, a pillar of Southern literature hailed by the Washington Post as "a national treasure," comes a colorful collection of short stories integrating favorite characters with captivating newcomers. Rhoda's reveling in her childhood and infinite possibility in "The Tree Fort" and "The Time Capsule" is juxtaposed with her darker adulthood in "Mexico." Nora Jane returns alongside Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who predicts the birth of her twins. Fans of Gilchrist won't want to miss the author's exploration of the many stages of life—and the lightness and darkness each can bring. "Several stories in Gilchrist's latest collection are distinguished by her old magic—they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer...

"There is not a single dud in this brilliant collection...crisp stories about marriage, blood, booze and death and the wayward passions fomented by them."—Time Out From joyous moments to near insurmountable grief, National Book Award-winning author Ellen Gilchrist gives readers vignettes revealing the lives of some of her most memorable characters. In "Traceleen at Dawn," we see the wealthy Miss Crystal finally give up drinking after a fire consumes her home. In "1941," readers meet Rhoda Manning, a precocious nine-year-old facing off with the world of adults for the first time. In "The Last Diet," a woman on a diet crashes her car into a doughnut shop. And murder takes center stage in "Memphis" and "The Emancipator." Coming of age, heartbreak, death, and more permeate these brilliant snapshots of life from the author of the award-winning Victory over Japan, Acts of God, and other acclaimed works. "Smart, funny, moving, and...

The National Book Award–winning Southern authorhumorously explores themes of marriage, love, gender, race, age, and more in eighteen short stories.Unplanned pregnancy, born-again Christianity, and strained sibling relationships are explored through precocious sixteen-year-old narrator Aurora Harris in "The Triumph of Reason," "Have a Wonderful Nice Walk," and "Witness to the Crucifixion." Crystal and her housekeeper Traceleen feel the straining of family ties and the force of chauvinism in "Miss Crystal Confronts the Past" and "A Sordid Tale."Hope, laughter, and love balance tragedy in this must-read for die-hard Gilchrist fans."A convincing evocation of the changing South. The new reality, as depicted here, includes the waning of racism, the sexual revolution and the growth of feminism. . . . One reads this collection entertained by her distinctive prose, beguiled by her vivid characters and buoyed by the insistent touches of humor...

Winner of the National Book Award and the author of numerous highly praised works of fiction and nonfiction, Ellen Gilchrist is also a daughter, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who takes delight in her large, wonderful family. Things like the Truth offers a collection of nonfiction essays about Ellen Gilchrist's life, family, home, work, aging, and the fun of fighting to stay healthy in an increasingly undisciplined culture. This collection brings together for the first time essays by Ellen Gilchrist on her later life and family...

With the publication of 1983's The Annunciation, Ellen Gilchrist established herself as a teller of charming, bittersweet tales of the modern South. Since then, her works of fiction - sixteen in all - have built up a solid base of dedicated fans. With her uncanny insights into human character and the bittersweet complications of love, Ellen Gilchrist occupies a unique place in American fiction.

A fiction collection, including two new stories, from the award-winning author: "Rhoda is a fully realized creation. And not one to be dismissed lightly."—Entertainment Weekly From Ellen Gilchrist, a National Book Award winner and "national treasure" (The Washington Post), this volume includes twenty-three stories starring Rhoda Manning—"the shining manifestation of Gilchrist's wry, intelligent, and passionate writing" (Kirkus Review). Follow Rhoda from age eight to age sixty, as she grows from a hot-tempered, impetuous child to a complex, confident adult. Even at a young age, Rhoda loves to get her way, boasting a unique spark that only shines brighter in an adulthood full of sex and excitement. From diet pills to multiple marriages to far-reaching travels and a writing career, Rhoda's relentless hunger for adventure will delight all who accompany her on her journeys. "A winner...Rhoda is as real...

Three couples struggle through tricky relationships in a novel "shot through with an offhand lyricism, snippets of wisdom, and a ready humor" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). After her first year in college, Olivia de Havilland Hand returns home to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, amid tornadoes and the chance for rekindled love. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, her half-sister Jessie tries to keep her new marriage to immature King afloat as she plans for the arrival of their first child. The sisters' lives intertwine with others as their father fears losing his two daughters, and Olivia's anthropology professor has a tumultuous affair with a fellow academic. An interconnected web of relationships thrives against the backdrop of a world in transition in this literary rumination on the joys and sorrows of family and love from the National Book Award-winning author. "Gilchrist's distinctive, flowing voice keeps one engaged throughout." –Kirkus Reviews

Home for the summer in Dunleith, Alabama, Rhoda Manning's life appears at ease. But the headstrong, passionate 19-year-old refuses to settle for a comfortable, conventional existence. Yearning for a life of profundity, adventure, and beauty, Rhoda breaks from the seemingly secure world of her family to recklessly follow her dreams—but not without tragic and disturbing consequences. A failed marriage, shady abortion, an impulsive decision to sneak into a midnight meeting of the Klan, dates with her shrink, a deluge of booze, and a bout of repentance all seem to vie as the means to Rhoda's own liberation. Gilchrist unflinchingly takes us through the turbulence of Rhoda's formative years, on an outrageous coming-of-age journey of a young white woman in the 1960's South—digging through the bone to reveal the chill of human experience.PRAISE:"One of the lies we enjoy telling ourselves is that when we were young, we were crazy and wild. But hey, sensitive, too, and...