Passion and Affect
Published on 6. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-3996-1444-3 (ISBN)
Description
'Colwin wrings magic from ordinary lives' Entertainment Weekly
Carl thinks that his wife Lucy tells him everything, until he discovers her secret daily habit. She has arranged a part of her life away from him and gone swimming in it.
Patricia plays the same honky-tonk album over and over, while worrying that she'll never become any less young and heedless, any more willing to get down to what her husband calls "the things of life".
Elizabeth has an orderly existence up to the day she meets Richard: a slightly wrecked married man on the fringes of middle age who holds her hand as if it is an eggshell.
This sparkling story collection from the adored Laurie Colwin explores love, longing and all we can never know about each other.
A W&N Essential
Carl thinks that his wife Lucy tells him everything, until he discovers her secret daily habit. She has arranged a part of her life away from him and gone swimming in it.
Patricia plays the same honky-tonk album over and over, while worrying that she'll never become any less young and heedless, any more willing to get down to what her husband calls "the things of life".
Elizabeth has an orderly existence up to the day she meets Richard: a slightly wrecked married man on the fringes of middle age who holds her hand as if it is an eggshell.
This sparkling story collection from the adored Laurie Colwin explores love, longing and all we can never know about each other.
A W&N Essential
Reviews / Votes
An infallible recipe for happiness: read as much Laurie Colwin as you can -- Emma Straub The glittering, generous, delicious world of Laurie Colwin's fiction is a gift. We need her voice, her heart and her paean to joy, now more than ever -- Dani Shapiro Colwin wrings magic from ordinary lives * Entertainment Weekly * Colwin has singlehandedly revitalised the short story * Los Angeles Times * A brilliant observer of the human comedy -- Robert McCrumMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
170 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3996-1444-3 (9781399614443)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Laurie Colwin is the author of five novels - HAPPY ALL THE TIME, FAMILY HAPPINESS, GOODBYE WITHOUT LEAVING, A BIG STORM KNOCKED IT OVER and SHINE ON, BRIGHT AND DANGEROUS OBJECT - three collections of short stories - PASSION AND AFFECT, THE LONE PILGRIM and ANOTHER MARVELLOUS THING - and two collections of essays, HOME COOKING and MORE HOME COOKING. Laurie Colwin died in 1992.