Bread Upon the Waters, Irwin Shaw
Bread Upon the Waters, Irwin Shaw
List: $16.83 | Sale: $11.79
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Bread Upon the Waters
A Novel

Author: Irwin Shaw

Narrator: Todd Hastings

Unabridged: 1 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2026


Synopsis

With one act of kindness, the fate of a Manhattan family is forever altered in this New York Times–bestselling novel by the author of Rich Man, Poor Man.   The Strands are a happy family, save for the occasional financial struggle. Allen, the father, has a decent job as a schoolteacher, a lovely wife, and smart, ambitious, and compassionate children. When Allen's daughter witnesses a mugging, she takes the victim back to the Strand home for help and a warm meal. The Strands have no clue that the man they are helping is Russell Hazen, a powerful and wealthy Wall Street lawyer. In his gratitude, Hazen offers gifts, vacations, networking opportunities—even plastic surgery. But with each reward comes baggage, and soon the Strands begin to lose sight of what matters most in life.   Bread Upon the Waters is a masterful story about the way lives interconnect, and how every good deed, no matter how selfless, comes with a price.   This ebook features an illustrated biography of Irwin Shaw including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author's estate.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lorraine on December 13, 2013

Shaw at his brilliant best! It made me feel dreadfully inadequate as a writer, but I couldn't put the book down, and, having read it, I know it's a book I'll come back and re-read. Shaw moralizes some in this story, but he exposes irrefutable truths about life, money, aspirations, priorities, parent......more

Goodreads review by Jason on March 18, 2008

This book is an ambitious attempt to chronicle the social entropy that can pull even loving people away from each other. The story follows Allen Strand, a New York City public high school history teacher, as he tries to negotiate the formidable challenges that circumstance visits on him. At the outs......more