Elizabeth Graver’s fourth novel, The End of the Point, set in a summer community on Buzzard’s Bay from 1942 to 1999, is forthcoming from Harper Collins in Spring, 2013. Of the new book, her publisher writes:
“For the Porter family, summers at Ashaunt Point – a mile and a half long finger of land on Buzzards Bay in
Massachusetts – have anchored life, providing sanctuary for generations. But in 1942, everything abruptly changes when the U.S. Army sets up a base on the Point. The two older girls – teenagers Dossie and Helen – run wild. Their Scottish nanny, Bea, falls in love. And the youngest daughter, Jane, is involved in an incident that cuts the summer short, unsettling notions of safety and home.
As decades pass, first Helen and then her son Charlie return to the Point, seeking refuge in rapidly changing times. But Ashaunt proves to be a space at once protected and contested – geographically remote, but never entirely removed from the events of history unfolding beyond its borders. Neither Charlie nor his mother – nor any other family member – can escape the long shadow of the Vietnam War, the bitterly disputed development of the land around them, economic misfortune, and illness, both psychological and physical.
A powerful portrait of one family’s journey through the second half of the twentieth century, The End of the Point artfully traces the hairline fractures that lie beneath the surface of our lives, even after they’ve been reassembled by time, place, and one another. The result is a layered exploration of the complex legacy of place, and of family – what we are born into, what we pass down to the next generation, and what we must preserve, cast off, or willingly set free.”
Elizabeth Graver is the author of three novels: Awake,The Honey Thief, and Unravelling. Her short story collection, Have You Seen Me?, won the 1991 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories (1991, 2001); Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards (1994, 1996, 2001); The Pushcart Prize Anthology (2001), and Best American Essays (1998). Her story “The Mourning Door” was awarded the Cohen Prize from Ploughshares Magazine. The mother of two daughters, she teaches English and Creative Writing at Boston College.
Events:
Gastronomica and Orion Magazines Present: An Evening of Art, Literature, and Food ~ March 16, 2012
Hosted by Dara Goldstein and Hannah Fries, with Patty Crane, Elizabeth Graver, Francine Prose, Ruth Reichl, and Ellen Doré Watson. Williams College Museum of Art, Main Street, Williamstown, MA, 6-7:30 p.m.
News
Elizabeth’s short story, “Flatiron,” appeared in Art From Art, A Collection of Short Stories Inspired By Art (Editor, Steve Soucy, Modernist Press, 2011)
Elizabeth’s prose poem, “He Goes,” appeared in the Official Catalogue of Potential Literature (Cow Heavy Press, 2011), as well as (full-text) in the lively new on-line journal, continent.
Elizabeth’s prose poem, “Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4″, appears in the Spring, 2011 issue of Hayden’s Ferry Review and is currently available on-line.
Elizabeth’s essay “Distance Education,” in which she explores going to Nicaragua on a faculty/staff travel seminar, is in the Fall, 2010 issue of Boston College Magazine.
Copyright 2012, Elizabeth Graver. All rights reserved
