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The Three Weissmanns of Westport
On sale
23rd June 2011
Price: £10.99
When Joseph Weissmann divorced his wife, he was seventy eight years old and she was seventy-five…
He said the words “Irreconcilable differences,” and saw real confusion in his wife’s eyes.
“Irreconcilable differences?” she said. “Of course there are irreconcilable differences. What on earth does that have to do with divorce?”
So begins The Three Weissmanns of Westport, a sparkling, and stinging, contemporary adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.
The Weissmann sisters Miranda, an impulsive but successful literary agent, and Annie, a pragmatic library director, quite unexpectedly find themselves the middle-aged products of a broken home. Dumped by her husband of nearly fifty years and then exiled from their elegant New York apartment by his mistress, Betty is forced to move to a small, run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. Joining her are Miranda and Annie, who dutifully comes along to keep an eye on her capricious mother and sister. As the sisters mingle with the suburban aristocracy, love starts to blossom for both of them, and they find themselves struggling with the dueling demands of reason and romance.
He said the words “Irreconcilable differences,” and saw real confusion in his wife’s eyes.
“Irreconcilable differences?” she said. “Of course there are irreconcilable differences. What on earth does that have to do with divorce?”
So begins The Three Weissmanns of Westport, a sparkling, and stinging, contemporary adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.
The Weissmann sisters Miranda, an impulsive but successful literary agent, and Annie, a pragmatic library director, quite unexpectedly find themselves the middle-aged products of a broken home. Dumped by her husband of nearly fifty years and then exiled from their elegant New York apartment by his mistress, Betty is forced to move to a small, run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. Joining her are Miranda and Annie, who dutifully comes along to keep an eye on her capricious mother and sister. As the sisters mingle with the suburban aristocracy, love starts to blossom for both of them, and they find themselves struggling with the dueling demands of reason and romance.
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Reviews
Schine has been favored in so many ways by the muse of comedy . . . The Three Weissmanns of Westport is full of invention, wit, and wisdom.
A cheeky, intelligent read.
Like Jane Austen's original this sparkly, highly readable re-framing has interiors, wicked stepmothers, lashings of escapism and a heartfelt portrait of sisterhood, daughterhood and motherhood that will strike a chord with women everywhere.
A deliciously comforting read.
This witty, wistful novel explores what happens when a long-standing marriage falls apart.
Schine tells the story with such tenderness and wit.
At last, a Jane Austen spin-off that avoids the trappings of chick-lit.
Schine's book offers much to enjoy: elegant prose, pin-sharp humour, and an ending that proves satisfyingly bittersweet.
The Sunday Times Must Reads: Sense and Sensibility is given a modern and beguiling twist.
Charming.
Swap genteel nineteenth-century England for upscale contemporary Connecticut, add two sisters-one impulsive, one practical-and stir with lively doses of romance, domestic discord, sudden setbacks, and sublime surprises, and you get Cathleen Schine's homage to Jane Austen.
No Cathleen Schine book is without wit and sharply observed moments.
A deliberate homage to Jane Austen succeeds in being intelligent and beguiling.
Likeable and intelligent.
Witty, lively, lovely
Schine's real wit playfully probes the lies, self-deceptions, and honorable hearts of her characters.
And off races the sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious and deeply affecting new novel by Cathleen Schine, her best yet, The Three Weissmanns of Westport . . . Schine's homage [to Jane Austen] has it all: stinging social satire, mordant wit, delicate charm, lilting language and cosseting materialistic detail
Schine is a wonderfully warm writer and the book is a delight.
A sparklingly funny and tender story wrapped around the frame of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.
A funny, touching novel.
Entirely delightful.