Winner of the National Book Award

A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather

By: Jincy Willett

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Set in Rhode Island, Winner of the National Book Award tells the story of twins who could not be more different. Abigail Mather is a woman of passionate sensual and sexual appetites, while her sister, the book-loving local librarian Dorcas, lives a quiet life of the mind. But when the sisters are sought out by the predatory and famous poet, Guy DeVilbiss, who introduces them to Hollywood hack writer and possible psychopath Conrad Lowe, they rapidly become pawns in a game that leads to betrayal, shame and ultimately, murder.

Darkly comic and satirical, Jincy Willett’s Winner of the National Book Award is unnervingly funny and disarmingly tender whether she is writing about sex, literary delusion, or Yankee pretension.

©2003 Jincy Willett (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

a poetic character study

Jincy Willet's writing is poetically wry; her observations are acute and often funny- but the "story" here is less story and more (fictional) biography in terms of "plot". This is a good book for readers, writers, and people who love Rhode Island. However, don't expect a thrilling plot or climax.

A rare opportunity

Although a bit pedantic at times, this is an incisive look at two very different identical women’s relationships with want. For both, wanting exists on opposite ends of a spectrum. Satisfying wants, denying them, avoiding or immersing in pleasures of the flesh - each has its’ consequences. The consequences are driven more by external realities than the individual characters, although each woman seems to believe she has free will or complete freedom in her choices. The overlying story names a false family history as the key influence. The oppressively limited options for women in the time (1970’s) and place (wee little Rhode Island) exert far more power over their Will than they perceive.
Slow and contemplative and often hilariously funny, I really enjoyed this meditation on impulses, gender as experienced by fraternal twins

Title is COMPLETELY MISLEADING

Disgusting story, vile and silly in its dramatic presentation. Nothing remotely redeeming in this book. Title is a manipulation of buyers who might expect something more from a National Book Award winner. Was that in fact the case. Were I they ( NBA committee) I’d sue!