That Summer's Trance J. R. Salamanca

That Summer's Trance

Author: J. R. Salamanca

Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers

Publication Date: 01 July, 2000

ISBN: 9781566491259

Pages: 432

Subjects: Psychological

Available as: , Trade Cloth, 978-1-56649-125-9 Trade Cloth, 978-1-56649-102-0 Trade Paper, 978-1-56649-220-1 E-Book - , 978-1-61803-061-0 E-Book - EPUB, 978-1-61803-030-6

Description:

"Benedict Oakshaw is a gifted young American studying at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he distinguishes himself by the power and originality of his performances. During his days at the Academy he is captivated by a fellow student, an English girl named Jill who is brilliant, talented, and utterly defiant of convention. Their long, intense affair comes to an end when Ben meets Priscilla, an American girl who works at the American Embassy in London. They fall in love and marry." "Years later, Priscilla and Ben attend a play which Jill has written and in which she is performing at the Kennedy Center, and they go backstage to congratulate her. Priscilla, charmed by the playwright and completely unaware of her prior relationship with Ben, invites Jill and the British journalist who has become her constant companion to join Ben and herself on their annual summer vacation at their beach house on the Outer Banks." "What ensues is the summer trance of that vacation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

PW Publishers Weekly

Review Source: Publishers Weekly

Review Date: 2000-05-22

Salamanca's first book in 14 years is being released simultaneously with a new edition of the author's '60s bestseller, Lilith (one million copies in print and a 1964 film version starring Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg). This introspective, detail-rich and haunting literary novel will certainly please fans of his earlier work. Ben Oakshaw has sold out, abandoning a promising acting career to make millions as a D.C. advertising executive and keeping up a faade of worldly accomplishment. Then he and his wife, Priscilla, see a new play by Jill Davenport, an actress Ben worked with at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Jill's play terrifies Ben but charms Priscilla, who invites Jill and her companion, Tony, to spend two weeks in their beach house on Cape Hatteras. What Priscilla doesn't know is that the play reenacts Ben and Jill's affair in London before and after his marriage to Priscilla. In the ensuing two weeks at the beach, the couples share copious amounts of liquor, quote poetry and tell romantic ghost stories. Worried at first that Priscilla will discover his old indiscretion, Ben eventually resumes his affair with a disarmingly eager Jill. The deliberately paced narrative sacrifices surprise for emotional depth: Salamanca's characters realize their faults and squirmingly face their pasts as they act out their morality tale in a privileged world of sunshine and Chardonnay. Salamanca's writing prompts comparisons to William Styron, via its leisurely attention to setting and in the author's affection for his characters, no matter how dishonorably they behave. Relentless, dignified, lengthy and fully realized, "haunted by the future as well as the past," Salamanca's new work recalls the triumphant realist novels from the '40s and '50s more than it does much current work: it deserves a broad welcome and serious attention. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved