The Assassins: A Book of Hours PDF
Preview The Assassins: A Book of Hours
‘'A book you cannot easily forget.'7 —BARBARA BANNON in Publishers Weekly The Assassins by Joyce Carol Oates Winner of the National Book Award for Them Author of Do With Me What You Will, etc. When a bullet strikes a powerful political figure, when the burial rites are over and done with, when all that remains of that great promise is his linger- ing charisma, when the affair is investigated, the verdict rendered, what of those who have stood — silent in the churchyard are their lives, too, ripped by the same bullet? Has the deed been done by one assassin? Is there only one who has been destroyed? Or was there more than one who pulled the trigger, more than one whose life is shattered? the assassins is the story of Andrew Petrie, a wealthy right-wing political figure with a reputa- tion for ruthless honesty. More, it is the story of his surviving brothers, Hugh and Stephen, and of his young widow Yvonne. Members of a large, prominent family, they are nevertheless isolated, each alone with his own enemy, his own assassin. In a state of frozen panic, they realize that Andrew’s death has robbed them of the object of — their hatred, love, religious compassion all-con- suming emotions that had previously cushioned them against the nightmare of their own empti- — ness. Their conflicting interpretations of reality as well as the baffling, tragic events that overtake them— constitute a revelation of the contemporary world, both political and private. A Featured Alternate of the Literary Guild $8.95 Other Books by Joyce Carol Oates The Goddess AND OTHER WOMEN New New Heaven, Earth: THE VISIONARY EXPERIENCE IN LITERATURE Do With Me What You Will Marriages and Infidelities The Edge of Impossibility: TRAGIC FORMS IN LITERATURE Wonderland The Wheel of Love Them Expensive People A Garden of Earthly Delights Upon the Sweeping Flood With Shuddering Fall By the North Gate Anonymous Sins (poems) Love and Derangements (poems) Its Angel Fire (poems) The Fabulous Beasts Scenes from American Life: CONTEMPORARY SHORT FICTION (EDITOR) The Hungry Ghosts The Seduction AND OTHER STORIES Miracle Play Fernandes/Oates: The Poisoned Kiss AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE PORTUGUESE Everybody considers dying important; but as yet death is no festival. NIETZSCHE The Assassins A BOOK OF HOURS joyce carol oates THE VANGUARD PRESS, INC. NEW YORK 5AUSAUTO PUBLIC LIBRARY SAUSALITG. 94963 CALIF. The characters, families, institutions, political situations, and events in this novel are fictitious, and no resemblance to real persons or events is intended or should be inferred © Copyright 1975 by Joyce Carol Oates Published simultaneously in Canada by Gage Publishing Co., Agincourt, Ontario. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information or retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may wish to quote brief passages in connection with a review for a newspaper, magazine, radio, or television. Manufactured in the United States of America. Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 75-18424 ISBN: 0-8149-0767-9 Designer: Ernst Reichl Raymond For CONTENTS One Part HUGH 1 Two Part YVONNE 225 Part Three STEPHEN 441 HUGH One Part
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