{"product_id":"the-strange-children","title":"The Strange Children","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy Caroline Gordon\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eOld friends \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003ehave convened at the Tennessee home of Sarah and Steve Lewis. Their gathering, witnessed and recorded solely by Lucy, Sarah and Steve’s nine-year-old daughter, involves the happenings, both usual and unusual, which can encompass everyday life: reminiscences of good and interesting times in the tropics of St. Tropez; dinner preparations and party games; livestock inspections and examinations of conscience; religious revivals and hints of infidelity. Yet beneath the stillness of the surface simmers a fundamental tension of life—the tension between authentic purpose and agnosticism, between a life divinely ordained in a particular direction and one of wandering across “a darkling plain.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eRid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003ewhose mouth speaketh vanity…\u003c\/em\u003e (Psalm 144)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe second of two novels Caroline Gordon wrote after her conversion to the Catholic faith, \u003ci\u003eThe Strange Children \u003c\/i\u003ewas deemed “a beautiful book” by Flannery O’Connor, thanks to the dramatic development of grace in its characters. A finalist (alongside \u003ci\u003eThe Catcher in the Rye \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFaulkner’s Requiem for a Nun\u003c\/i\u003e) for the 1952 National Book Award, \u003ci\u003eThe Strange Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a sophisticated portrait of life, rendered with the peculiar talent of a child.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eCaroline Gordon \u003c\/b\u003e(1895–1981) was an American novelist and critic. Her writing earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship and O. Henry Award and a prominent place in the Southern Renaissance. A convert to the Catholic faith, she was friend and mentor to Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, and others. Robert Penn Warren praised her for “enriching our literature uniquely.” Her works include \u003ci\u003eThe Malefactors\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHow to Read a Novel\u003c\/i\u003e, and (with Allen Tate)\u003ci\u003e The House of Fiction: An Anthology of the Short Story\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback:\u003c\/strong\u003e 250pp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 978-1685952310\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cluny Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42861787906142,"sku":"978-1685952310","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0652\/2929\/1614\/files\/ProductImages_5.5x8.5--906.jpg?v=1780986916","url":"https:\/\/nez-emporium.com\/products\/the-strange-children","provider":"Nez Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}