A Trick of Nature: A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book A Trick of Nature: A Novel by Suzanne Matson, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Suzanne Matson ISBN: 9780393244359
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: April 17, 2000
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Suzanne Matson
ISBN: 9780393244359
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: April 17, 2000
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

"A compelling, unpredictable narrative that moves beyond its calm suburban setting into darker social and psychological territory…[Matson] is a writer of uncommon wisdom and emotional depth." —Tom Perrotta

Greg Goodman is a very ordinary guy—a not-very-ambitious school teacher and football coach who takes his attractive wife, Patty, their twin adolescent daughters, and the comfortable ease of their suburban routine for granted. Until lightening strikes—both literally and figuratively—as Greg runs a pattern with his junior varsity team during a muggy August practice and fifteen-year-old Timothy Phelps is directly struck. This crisis threatens to unravel all the strands anchoring Greg to his normal habits of being. When Timothy's mother, a stripper and addict who abandoned Timothy as a child, enters the mix, Greg discovers his own complicated and misguided longings.

As in her debut novel, Suzanne Matson employs "crisp, clean writing…[and] compassionately drawn characters" (New York Times Book Review) to create a gripping story about the nature of love, trust, family, and marriage. Set in a seemingly safe world of split-levels and carefully tended lawns, A Trick of Nature powerfully captures the characters' emerging self-awareness as they are forced to test the assumptions they hold about themselves and the connections that bind them.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

"A compelling, unpredictable narrative that moves beyond its calm suburban setting into darker social and psychological territory…[Matson] is a writer of uncommon wisdom and emotional depth." —Tom Perrotta

Greg Goodman is a very ordinary guy—a not-very-ambitious school teacher and football coach who takes his attractive wife, Patty, their twin adolescent daughters, and the comfortable ease of their suburban routine for granted. Until lightening strikes—both literally and figuratively—as Greg runs a pattern with his junior varsity team during a muggy August practice and fifteen-year-old Timothy Phelps is directly struck. This crisis threatens to unravel all the strands anchoring Greg to his normal habits of being. When Timothy's mother, a stripper and addict who abandoned Timothy as a child, enters the mix, Greg discovers his own complicated and misguided longings.

As in her debut novel, Suzanne Matson employs "crisp, clean writing…[and] compassionately drawn characters" (New York Times Book Review) to create a gripping story about the nature of love, trust, family, and marriage. Set in a seemingly safe world of split-levels and carefully tended lawns, A Trick of Nature powerfully captures the characters' emerging self-awareness as they are forced to test the assumptions they hold about themselves and the connections that bind them.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Hunger: A Novella and Stories by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Galaxy Love: Poems by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Working with Parents of Anxious Children: Therapeutic Strategies for Encouraging Communication, Coping & Change by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book You Don't Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie's Dark Side by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Transforming Your Teaching: Practical Classroom Strategies Informed by Cognitive Neuroscience by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book The Poems of Jesus Christ by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance (New Edition) by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book The Age of Shiva: A Novel by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book The Blackest Bird: A Novel of Murder in Nineteenth-Century New York by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Transforming Negative Self-Talk: Practical, Effective Exercises by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Autism and the Family: Understanding and Supporting Parents and Siblings by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book The Rye Baker: Classic Breads from Europe and America by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Food City: Four Centuries of Food-Making in New York by Suzanne Matson
Cover of the book Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Suzanne Matson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy