The Three Weissmanns of Westport

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Description

When Joseph Weissmann divorced his wife, he was seventy eight years old and she was seventy-five...

He said the words "Irreconcilable differences," and saw real confusion in his wife's eyes.

"Irreconcilable differences" she said. "Of course there are irreconcilable differences. What on earth does that have to do with divorce"

So begins The Three Weissmanns of Westport, a sparkling, and stinging, contemporary adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

The Weissmann sisters Miranda, an impulsive but successful literary agent, and Annie, a pragmatic library director, quite unexpectedly find themselves the middle-aged products of a broken home. Dumped by her husband of nearly fifty years and then exiled from their elegant New York apartment by his mistress, Betty is forced to move to a small, run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. Joining her are Miranda and Annie, who dutifully comes along to keep an eye on her capricious mother and sister. As the sisters mingle with the suburban aristocracy, love starts to blossom for both of them, and they find themselves struggling with the dueling demands of reason and romance.

Reviews

A deliberate homage to Jane Austen succeeds in being intelligent and beguiling. - Sunday Times

Like Jane Austen's original this sparkly, highly readable re-framing has interiors, wicked stepmothers, lashings of escapism and a heartfelt portrait of sisterhood, daughterhood and motherhood that will strike a chord with women everywhere. - The Times

Schine's book offers much to enjoy: elegant prose, pin-sharp humour, and an ending that proves satisfyingly bittersweet. - The Guardian

And off races the sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious and deeply affecting new novel by Cathleen Schine, her best yet, The Three Weissmanns of Westport . . . Schine's homage [to Jane Austen] has it all: stinging social satire, mordant wit, delicate charm, lilting language and cosseting materialistic detail - New York Times Book Review

Entirely delightful. - Daily Mail

Schine's real wit playfully probes the lies, self-deceptions, and honorable hearts of her characters. - New Yorker

Witty, lively, lovely - Bookseller

Schine has been favored in so many ways by the muse of comedy . . . The Three Weissmanns of Westport is full of invention, wit, and wisdom. - New York Review of Books

Author Bio

Cathleen Schine is the author of The New Yorkers and The Love Letter, among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.