Reynolds Price won an O'Henry award on the short story- One Sunday in Late July- which provides the springboard for this...

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A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE

Reynolds Price won an O'Henry award on the short story- One Sunday in Late July- which provides the springboard for this short novel. Into brief compass he packs an intensity of emotion, a depth perception of the cross currents within a closely integrated Virginia community (near Warrenton), a sense of mood and the climate of opinion. To Rosacoke Mustian it was not enough that the white people accepted philosophically the death of Mildred Sutton having her baby without a husband. Mildred was a Negro. It would be different if Rosacoke had a baby, while carefree Wesley Beavers, whom everyone accepted as her boy friend, thought his motor cycle the most important thing in life. And this was what Rosacoke had to face through the months that followed that Sunday in late July, when Wesley had ridden away on his motor cycle. Reynolds Price is best known for his short stories. This bears witness to his ability to carry his rare quality beyond the brief span of a short story.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 1439109346

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1961

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