{"product_id":"a-hole-in-the-heart-christopher-marquis-9780312306311","title":"A Hole in the Heart","description":"\u003cp\u003eMidafternoon on a Tuesday, it occurred to Bean Jessup that she was forgetting her husband's face. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSo begins this smart and charmingly written debut novel about a young woman trying to start over amid the grandeur of the Alaskan landscape and the creaky confines of an isolated fishing village and its relentless and pungent salmon cannery. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Hole in the Heart\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of what happens when Bean arrives after accepting a last-minute elementary-school-teaching job in a town of 2500 people on Alaska's southern coast. Love and marriage follow in short order, surprising Bean, who feels that her husband is not only the best thing to happen to her, but the only good thing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThen Mick vanishes leading amateur hikers--or tuna as the guides call them--up Mt. McKinley. Suddenly, Bean is thrown back upon herself and into the company of Mick's mother Hanna, an arthritic woman in her seventies who believes that a little larceny is good for the circulation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe pair chafe at first, but eventually become partners in a road trip back to California. Mike's disappearance feels like a hole in the heart, they decide, and Hanna tells Bean to prize that hole; it's something no one can take away from her. With gentle humor, pathos, and boundless stores of hope, Marquis writes of Bean's struggle with early widowhood, loss, and moving on. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn avid bird-watcher, Bean takes much of her wisdom from the Pemberton Guide to Alaska Birds. Like the globe-crossing birds she so admires, she has struggled to get aloft, but for a delicious, perhaps fleeting moment in this marvelous novel, we see her glide. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBook Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e selected Christopher Marquis as one of Ten To Watch In 2003 for this Proulxian saga. With its first-rate evocation of landscape and its affectionately drawn characters, \u003ci\u003eA Hole in the Heart\u003c\/i\u003e marks the publication debut of a prodigiously talented writer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Christopher Marquis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0312306318\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780312306311\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e St. Martins Press-3PL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 341\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.72lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.36h x 5.54w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/15\/2004 pg. 16","brand":"Christopher Marquis","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45481709601023,"sku":"9780312306311","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_2d85c111-e087-4b49-ac8a-4e7a0e719a6d.jpg?v=1715987442","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-hole-in-the-heart-christopher-marquis-9780312306311","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}