{"title":"Bette Howland","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBette Howland\u003c\/strong\u003e offers readers a poignant blend of \u003cem\u003egeneral fiction\u003c\/em\u003e and memoir, capturing the nuanced textures of human experience with clarity and compassion. Her works navigate themes of memory, identity, and the quiet moments that shape our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough titles like \u003cem\u003eBlue in Chicago\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThings to Come and Go\u003c\/em\u003e, Howland’s prose invites reflection and intimacy, appealing to those who appreciate literature rich in emotional depth and thoughtful observation.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"w-3-by-bette-howland-9781736370902","title":"W-3","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn extraordinary portrait of a brilliant mind on the brink: A new edition of the 1974 memoir by the author of the acclaimed collection \u003cem\u003eCalm Sea and Prosperous Voyage\u003c\/em\u003e. With an introduction by Yiyun Li.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life could begin. At last, it had dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eW-3 is both an extraordinary portrait of the community of Ward 3, the psychiatric wing of the Chicago hospital where she was admitted; and a record of a defining moment in a writer's life. The book itself would be her salvation: she wrote herself out of the grave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1974, the memoir that launched Bette Howland's career is being reissued as part of A Public Space's ongoing revival of \"one of the significant writers of her generation.\" (Saul Bellow) With a new introduction by Yiyun Li.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA portrayal of mental illness like none other. More claustrophobic than \u003cem\u003eGirl, Interrupted\u003c\/em\u003e and more frightening than \u003cem\u003eThe Bell Jar\u003c\/em\u003e, Howland's memoir maps the world of a 1960s psychiatric ward with an unflinching eye.\u003c\/strong\u003e - Esme Weijun Wang\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne of the significant writers of her generation.\u003c\/strong\u003e - Saul Bellow\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLooking to read a memoir? \u003cem\u003eW-3\u003c\/em\u003e by Bette Howland is well worth the price of admission.... Not for the faint of heart, this is a beautiful book about writing your way out of real darkness. It's brilliant. And after you read it, you won't be able to stop yourself from devouring her strange and wonderful short story collection, \u003cem\u003eCalm Sea and Prosperous Voyage\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003cem\u003e192 Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47487752470764,"sku":"9781736370902","price":47.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/aca82ec1f1dfc9552e4b287f95b1a75f.jpg?v=1775769359"},{"product_id":"blue-in-chicago-by-bette-howland-9781529035827","title":"Blue in Chicago","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe work of a woman who has invested her life in her art, and who will, I think, be remembered as one of the significant writers of her generation.\u003c\/em\u003e - Saul Bellow\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlue in Chicago\u003c\/em\u003e collects together the sharp, bittersweet stories of Bette Howland and restores to our bookshelves an extraordinarily gifted writer, who was recognised as a major talent before all but disappearing from public view for decades, until nearly the end of her life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBette Howland was an outsider: an intellectual from a working-class neighbourhood in Chicago; a divorcée and single mother, to the disapproval of her family; an artist chipped away at by poverty and perfection. Each of these sides of her life plays a shaping role in her work. Mining her most precarious struggles for her art in each of these stories, she chronicles the fears and hopes of her generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlue in Chicago\u003c\/em\u003e, and other stories introduces UK readers to a wry, brilliant observer and a writer of great empathy and sly, joyous humour. Published in the US under the title \u003cem\u003eCalm Sea and Prosperous Voyage\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf there's a Howland bandwagon (and there should be), hold me a seat, or I'll stand. No problem, I'll stand.\u003c\/em\u003e - Paris Review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48240827105516,"sku":"9781529035827","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781529035827-blue-in-chicago-1.jpg?v=1787927223"},{"product_id":"things-to-come-and-go-by-bette-howland-9781529035926","title":"Things to Come and Go","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eReminiscent of Edna O'Brien, with shades too of Jean Rhys.\u003c\/em\u003e - The Irish Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThings to Come and Go\u003c\/em\u003e showcases the incomparable talent of Bette Howland in three novellas of stunning power, beauty, and sustaining humour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirds of a Feather\u003c\/em\u003e is a daughter's story of her extended, first-generation family, the 'big, brassy yak-yakking Abarbanels'. Esti, a merciless, astute observer, recalls growing up amid the confusions and difficulties of their history, quarrels, judgements, noisy love and inescapable bonds of blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Old Wheeze\u003c\/em\u003e, a single mother in her twenties returns to her sunless apartment after a date at the ballet. Shifting between four viewpoints - the young woman, the older professor who took her out, her son, and her son's babysitter - the story masterfully captures the impossibility of liberating ourselves from the self.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Life You Gave Me\u003c\/em\u003e, a woman at the midpoint of life is called to her father's sickbed. A lament for all that is forever unsaid and unsayable, the story is \u003cem\u003ean anguished meditation on growing up, growing old and being left behind, a complaint against time.\u003c\/em\u003e (The New York Times)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1984, \u003cem\u003eThings to Come and Go\u003c\/em\u003e, Bette Howland's final book, is a collection of haunting urgency about arrivals and departures, and the private, insoluble dramas in the lives of three women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith an introduction by Rumaan Alam, bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eLeave the World Behind\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244779843820,"sku":"9781529035926","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781529035926-things-to-come-and-go-1.jpg?v=1788013313"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/bette-howland.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}