Winner of the National Book Award, Jincy Willett
Winner of the National Book Award, Jincy Willett
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Winner of the National Book Award
A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather

Author: Jincy Willett

Narrator: Susan Boyce

Unabridged: 10 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/28/2022

Synopsis

Set in Rhode Island, Winner of the National Book Award tells the story of twins who could not be more different.Abigail Mather is a woman of passionate sensual and sexual appetites, while her sister, the book loving local librarian Dorcas, lives a quiet life of the mind. But when the sisters are sought out by the predatory and famous poet, Guy DeVilbiss, who introduces them to Hollywood hack writer and possible psychopath Conrad Lowe, they rapidly become pawns in a game that leads to betrayal, shame and ultimately, murder.Darkly comic and satirical, Jincy Willett’s Winner of the National Book Award is unnervingly funny and disarmingly tender whether she is writing about sex, literary delusion, or Yankee pretension.

About Jincy Willett

Jincy Willet is the author of Jenny and the Jaws of Life, winner of the National Book Award, and The Writing Class, both which have been translated and sold internationally. Her stories have been published in Cosmopolitan, McSweeney's Quarterly, and other magazines. She frequently reviews for The New York Times Book Review.

About Susan Boyce

Susan Boyce is an award-winning audiobook narrator. She has recorded over ninety audiobooks in a variety of categories, and her talents have been put to work by industry giants such as Amica, Hasbro, and Mattel. She earned a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Rhode Island in 1979 and has worked on-stage at Trinity Repertory Theatre, Worcester Foothills Theatre, The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and every major Ragtime and Traditional Jazz Festival in the United States.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Oriana on July 12, 2013

This afternoon I was getting ready to go to a dinner party up in Riverdale (for non–New Yorkers, that's about as far from Brooklyn as, say, Rhode Island). I was late, as I always am. And as I was about to dash out the door, I had a moment of honest-to-goodness panic when I realized that my purse was......more

Goodreads review by MJ on July 14, 2013

In most twin-sister pairings, there is the one who rides down the motorhighway in a Cadillac with her pantaloons on her head, hoot-yelling ‘Born to Run’ while her rock-drummer husband shoots hot loot into his eyelids, and the one who stays indoors eating square sausage listening to the lovely Martin......more

Goodreads review by Griffin on September 22, 2008

"Winner" is a book that suffers from bad advertising. I was promised a black comedy. "Riotous. Hugely funny..." and "The funniest novel I have read, possibly ever" appear right there on the cover. The book was certainly sarcastic. It was caustic and biting but there was very little in the book that I......more

Goodreads review by Jim on May 23, 2008

Jincy Willett, author of the short story collection Jenny and the Jaws of Life — which includes "Ask Betty," possibly the funniest short story ever written — published this novel in 2003. Maybe I should be cautious about recommending this book. I suggested it to my sister, who in turn suggested it to......more

Goodreads review by Terris on April 01, 2025

I loved this quirky, strange book! It adds to my respect and love for Jincy Willett's writing. It might not be for everyone -- but it was for me :)......more

Quotes

“An elegy wrapped inside a satire, a sorrowful meditation on the mysteries of sibling love and rivalry concealed within a bitterly funny chronicle of literary buffoonery.” Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author

“Willett does a remarkable job of treating dark subject matter with shimmering playfulness, without diminishing its monstrosity…Poignant and funny, mean and tender, Willett’s novel is exuberantly original.” Publishers Weekly

“[An] utterly cunning and clever novel in which Willett blends wry understatement with wise understanding to portray a complex relationship between twin sisters and mordantly explore the misfortune that can befall the man who comes between them.” Booklist

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