Judith Claire Mitchell

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

New Hampshire

How do three sisters write a single suicide note? This is the riddle the Alter sisters-Lady, Vee and Delph-pose at the outset of this darkly funny novel as they finalize their plans to collectively end their lives on New Year's Eve, 1999. Their reasons are not theirs alone, and they prove that the sins of the father are indeed visited upon the children, even to the third and fourth generations. The Jewish Alter family has been haunted by suicide ever since the sisters' great-grandfather, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Lenz Alter, developed the first poison gas used in warfare and also the lethal agent used in the gas chambers of the Third Reich. Lenz and his wife, Iris, their son Richard and his children, Rose, Violet and Dahlie, all took their own lives. Now Dahlie's children are the only ones remaining. Lady, Vee and Delph love one another fiercely and protect one another from the shadows of the past through a shared sense of dark, deeply brilliant humour. As they gather in the Upper West Side apartment in which they were raised to close the circle of the Alter curse, an epic and achingly human tale-inspired in part by the true story of Fritz Haber, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of mustard gas-unfolds. Part wry memoir, part unflinching eulogy for those who have gone before, this is an intensely personal but profound commentary on the events of the 20th century. As one of the characters remarks, "Too bad Lenz Alter didn't invent Prozac instead of chlorine gas; that probably would have saved them all." Judith Claire Mitchell's epic narrative captures three unforgettable characters-and their haunted family-within one brutally witty, achingly human voice.

A Reunion of Ghosts

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Former library book. Stamps and stickers stating it’s a former library book. Book itself is still in good condition. 

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Kansas

In this beautiful love story and tragicomic tale, Yael Weiss, an 18-year-old from St. Louis, reinvents herself as Yale White, a 25-year-old Methodist, when she travels to Paris with the YMCA to work in a soldiers' canteen.

The Last Day of the War

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Arizona

A Novel

A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST

"The Alter sisters are mordant, wry, and crystalline in wit and vision; it is a tremendous pleasure to rocket through generations of their family histories with them." --Lauren Groff, New York Timesbestselling author of Fates and Furies, The Monsters of Templeton, and Arcadia

In the waning days of 1999, the last of the Alters--three damaged but wisecracking sisters who share an apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side--decide it's time to close the circle of the family curse by taking their own lives. But first, Lady, Vee, and Delph must explain the origins of that curse and how it has manifested throughout the preceding generations. Unspooling threads of history, personal memory, and family lore, they weave a mesmerizing account that stretches back a century to their great-grandfather, a brilliant scientist whose professional triumph became the terrible legacy that defines them. A suicide note crafted by three bright, funny women, A Reunion of Ghosts is the final chapter of a saga lifetimes in the making--one that is inexorably intertwined with the story of the twentieth century itself.

"Mitchell explores the mixed-blessing bonds of family with wry wit. This original tale is black comedy at its best."--People Book of the Week

"A rich portrait of a complicated family, at turns violent and hilarious."--Emma Straub, New York Timesbestselling author

North Carolina

Florida

Pennsylvania

Minnesota

New York

#paperback #fiction #haunting
This is a advanced reader's copy.
In the waning days of 1999, the last of the Alters—three damaged but wisecracking sisters who share an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side—decide it’s time to close the circle of the family curse by taking their own lives. But first, Lady, Vee, and Delph must explain the origins of that curse and how it has manifested throughout the preceding generations. Unspooling threads of history, personal memory, and family lore, they weave a mesmerizing account that stretches back a century to their great-grandfather, a brilliant scientist whose professional triumph became the terrible legacy that defines them. A suicide note crafted by three bright, funny women, A Reunion of Ghosts is the final chapter of a saga lifetimes in the making—one that is inexorably intertwined with the story of the twentieth century itself.

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

California