A Big Storm Knocked It Over: A Novel

by Laurie Colwin

Overview

“Laurie Colwin’s beautiful final book, A Big Storm Knocked It Over, is funny and moving and rich with complicated happiness—a love story for anyone who tends to overthink things, a comic novel about trying to find a place in the world.” — Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

In her fifth and final novel, acclaimed author Laurie Colwin explores marriage and friendship, motherhood and careers, as experienced by a cast of delightfully idiosyncratic Manhattanites. At once a hilarious social commentary and an insightful, sophisticated modern romance, A Big Storm Knocked It Over stands as a living tribute to one of contemporary fiction’s most original and beloved voices.

In her late thirties, Jane Louise Parker has just married a man whose native decency leaves her almost breathless at her good fortune. After the wedding, she returns to work at a small and tony publishing house whose finances are in disarray. Alongside her best friend, Edie, Jane Louise patiently waits to become pregnant, wondering if a baby will provide a sense of rootedness that still seems to elude her. When that longed-for child arrives, it transforms the Parkers’ lives in a way that is as unexpected as it is rapturous.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063046436
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	414,014
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Laurie Colwin is the author of five novels: Happy All the Time; Family Happiness; Goodbye Without Leaving; Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object; and A Big Storm Knocked It Over; three collections of short stories: Passion and Affect, Another Marvelous Thing, and The Lone Pilgrim; and two collections of essays: Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. She died in 1992.

Date of Birth:

June 14, 1944

Date of Death:

October 25, 1992

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Place of Death:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A., Bard College; M.A., Columbia University

Editorial Reviews

"Laurie Colwin was utterly fearless in writing about happiness. . . . The novel makes the idea of happy endings for decent people seem entirely plausible, almost inevitable—no small feat for a writer these days and no small pleasure for a reader." — New York Times

“I would love. . . to start a Colwin renaissance.” — Elin Hilderbrand, on NPR’s “All Things Considered”

"From the first sentence of A Big Storm Knocked It Over, beguiling words and an engaging ambience combine to seduce us." — Washington Post Book World

"Laurie Colwin's last and most touching work." — Boston Globe

“Laurie Colwin’s beautiful final book, A Big Storm Knocked It Over, is funny and moving and rich with complicated happiness-a love story for anyone who tends to overthink things, a comic novel about trying to find a place in the world.” — Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

“I’ve read and re-read every book by Laurie Colwin. Acutely observed, beautifully written, witty, and profound—each one is a delight.” — Gretchen Rubin, author of Happier at Home and The Happiness Project

From the Publisher

Laurie Colwin’s beautiful final book, A Big Storm Knocked It Over, is funny and moving and rich with complicated happiness-a love story for anyone who tends to overthink things, a comic novel about trying to find a place in the world.

Maile Meloy

I’ve read and re-read every book by Laurie Colwin. Acutely observed, beautifully written, witty, and profound—each one is a delight.

Gretchen Rubin

"Laurie Colwin's last and most touching work."

Boston Globe

Laurie Colwin’s beautiful final book, A Big Storm Knocked It Over, is funny and moving and rich with complicated happiness—a love story for anyone who tends to overthink things, a comic novel about trying to find a place in the world.”

author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy

The novel makes the idea of happy endings for decent people seem entirely plausible, almost inevitable—no small feat for a writer these days and no small pleasure for a reader.”

New York Times

From the first sentence of A Big Storm Knocked It Over, beguiling words and an engaging ambience combine to seduce us.”

Washington Post Book World

Rebecca Lowman was born to narrate Laurie Colwin's transcendent novel, published posthumously in 1993. Lowman's extraordinary performance transports listeners to the charming Manhattan enclave where Colwin's characters continue to enchant. There is a lovely continuity to Colwin's stories, and Lowman's pitch-perfect characterizations and witty delivery of dialogue captures this privileged world where creativity, science, and delicious food predominate. Lowman is sharp-edged but sympathetic as she portrays Jane Louise, a 30-something book designer who has never felt settled except at work who falls in love with and marries Teddy, a chemist from small-town New England who has his own challenges. Lowman brings forth the novel's understated clarity and precision. What a treat it is to have Colwin's words delivered with Lowman's delicate care. M.J. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2024 - AudioFile