ANNIE PROULX
Postcards
Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in paperback in 1994 by Fourth Estate and by
Harper Perennial in 2006, reprinted 7 times.
First published in Great Britain in 1993 by Fourth Estate
Copyright © Dead Line, Ltd. 1992
Annie Proulx asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9781841155012
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780007385553 Version: 2018-05-23
‘Annie Proulx has come close to writing “The Great American Novel”’
New York Times
‘Postcards feels like a fifth or sixth novel, not a first. Language that sizzles like meat in a pan … A wonderful writer and an astonishingly accomplished novel’
Chicago Tribune
‘Her first novel fulfils the promise of her short stories … hugely ambitious … The natural description is superb. The dialogue has a raspy bony twang to it. She pushes language to breaking point … a gifted prose stylist who renders her characters on the page to mesmerizing effect’
San Francisco Chronicle
‘The author’s literary ancestors range from Edith Wharton to Nathaniel West. But Proulx sees the grand side too … She sees every part of the national configuration and wraps every character here in a crazy-quilt of literary affection’
Los Angeles Times
‘Postcards triumphantly delivers. You could use the word “great” about Postcards without embarassing yourself’
Boston Globe
‘Rich, boisterous, remarkable … Annie Proulx draws characters who matter’
Washington Times
For Roberta
Contents
6 The Violet Shoe in the Ditch
16 The Bigger They Are the Higher They Burn
17 The Weeping Water Farm Insurance Office