Light in the Company of Women was greeted with enthusiastic reviews when it was published in hardcover. This magnificent family saga captured the hearts of critics all across the country. Glittering with turn-of-the-century romance and history, Light in the Company of Women is the story of Sarsfield Middleton and his Raysburg, West Virginia, family. Sarsfield is a man searching for himself and his place in a turbulent, quickly changing society. Torn as he is between the genteel world women and the brutal, competitive male arena, the established "old" society and the nouveau riche, Sarsfield's choices in life and love are irrevocably divided between the comfortingly familiar and dangerously exciting. Elegantly written and studded w authentic period detail, Light in Company of Women is the perfect corn nation of style and substance.

Light in the Company of Women

Literature & Fiction

Maillard, Keith

United States

Harpercollins Canada

Gloria

On her last trip to New York with her mother, she'd been fitted for a new formal, one that was older and more sophisticated than she'd ever worn before; it was smoke and silver, princess length, quite low cut, and she didn't want to wear it-would have preferred to revert to her jeune fille Cinderella persona-but she didn't have any choice; she couldn't very well get another one made at this late date. Preparing to do her makeup, looking in the mirror at her freshly scrubbed, bare skin, she saw a sad, tired girl who wanted to stay home with a book. Maybe if I put on lots and lots of makeup, she thought, just gobs of it, nobody will be able to see me at all. Gloria has all the Traina-Norell dresses and Ben Zuckerman suits a girl could ask for. She is a prom queen, a popular sorority girl-class of '57. Her father is vice president of a steel company and her mother is a society matron. Gloria is attractive, popular, and pinned-engaged to be engaged. So why is she so dissatisfied? A story set in John O'Hara territory, Gloria is a vivid portrayal of the class structure of America in that era and of the assumptions concerning gender that underlay society. It is about friendship, loyalty, sexuality, and love, and the dynamics of Gloria's family. But mostly it is about Gloria and her last summer at home before setting out for the larger world that she longs to engage. Reminiscent of Carnal Knowledge and By Love Possessed, this is the story of a young woman whose courage, intellectual integrity, and creative gifts defy expectations.

World Literature

Gloria, a recent college graduate, class of '57, has everything a girl could want. Expected to make a brilliant marriage to a wealthy but conventional man, Gloria finds herself torn between society's expectations and her own search for a future that is both passionate and fulfilling. Her quest uncovers the intensity of desires, the gift of intellectual accomplishment, and the surprising power of friendship.
Gloria is a vivid and intimate portrayal of a privileged yet claustrophobic world, where conflicting expectations for women foreshadow an impending revolution. Gloria Cotter, in her last summer at home before setting out for the larger world, must find her way into an unimaginable future.

Gloria: A Novel

Perennial

Author Keith Maillard received critical acclaim with his novel Gloria, which told the story of a young woman on the cusp of womanhood in a town called Raysburg, West Virginia. In his newest book, The Clarinet Polka, Maillard turns that same eagle-eyed attention to the other side of the tracks of that very same town and creates a stunning portrait of Polish America and of one man’s struggle to find meaning in his life and roots. The year is 1969, and young Jimmy Koprowski returns from his stint in the airforce to Raysburg, his blue-collar Polish American hometown where nothing much happens beyond working at the steel mill, going to Mass, and getting drunk at the local PAC. Jimmy’s efforts at rebuilding his life result in sleeping off hangovers in his parents’ attic and drifting into a destructive affair with a married woman. But things change when his younger sister Linda decides to start an all-girl polka band, and Jimmy falls for the band’s star clarinetist, Janice, whose young life is haunted by tragic events that happened before she was born. The threads of Jimmy’s family life, the legacy of WWII Poland, and the healing power of music, language, and tradition all begin to converge. At once gritty and compassionate, moving and witty, The Clarinet Polka showcases the emotional and perfectly pitched voice of a lost soul finding his way.

The Clarinet Polka: A Novel

Thomas Dunne Books

Author Keith Maillard received critical acclaim with his novel Gloria, which told the story of a young woman on the cusp of womanhood in a town called Raysburg, West Virginia. In The Clarinet Polka, Maillard turns that same eagle-eyed attention to the other side of the tracks of that very same town and creates a stunning portrait of Polish America and of one manâ€™s struggle to find meaning in his life and roots. The year is 1969, and young Jimmy Koprowski returns from his stint in the airforce to Raysburg, his blue-collar Polish American hometown where nothing much happens beyond working at the steel mill, going to Mass, and getting drunk at the local PAC. Jimmyâ€™s efforts at rebuilding his life result in sleeping off hangovers in his parentsâ€™ attic and drifting into a destructive affair with a married woman. But things change when his younger sister Linda decides to start an all-girl polka band, and Jimmy falls for the bandâ€™s star clarinetist, Janice, whose young life is haunted by tragic events that happened before she was born. The threads of Jimmyâ€™s family life, the legacy of WWII Poland, and the healing power of music, language, and tradition all begin to converge. At once gritty and compassionate, moving and witty, The Clarinet Polka showcases the emotional and perfectly pitched voice of a lost soul finding his way.

Literary

St. Martin's: Griffin

Motet

Random House Canada

In the most personal writing he has ever undertaken, veteran novelist Keith Maillard turns to poetry to evoke the madness of America in the time of the Gulf War. Also included is a long poem in blank verse about the Harry Thaw trial, in which Maillard depicts Evelyn Nesbit, the eerily beautiful woman in the court proceedings. A superb documentation of America’s dark obsession with youth, purity, style and violence. Winner of the 1995 Gerald Lampert prize for best first book of poetry.

Dementia Americana (Azimuts)

Poetry

Ronsdale Press

Despite her prosperous, high-society family background, popularity, and beauty, Gloria finds herself dissatisfied with her life as she faces her final summer at home during the late 1950s before setting out to conquer the world beyond her horizon. 20,000 first printing.

Soho Press

In the first volume of Difficulty at the Beginning, John Dupre is a student at Raysburg Military Academy, and being trained by his best friend to be a perfect Socratic athlete. Together they want to experience all of life - athletics, philosophy, beer and the quest for Truth. Fueled by Kerouac, James Dean and St. Augustine, they are out for experience and suffering, and that's just what they're going to get.

Running: Difficulty at the Beginning, Book 1

Brindle & Glass Pub Ltd

The summer of 1969 is already a distant memory; the psychedelic underground has turned on itself. John Dupre has deserted a perfectly satisfying life as a student in Toronto, drawn back to the US by the need to make a difference in the Revolution. He's living in Boston, under an assumed name because he's on the FBI's wanted list for draft evasion. When John and his companions seize control of an underground newspaper and are put on the Weatherman hit list, there's really no place to hide.

Looking Good: Difficulty at the Beginning

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Maillard, Keith. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Maillard, Keith

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Maillard, Keith. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Light in the Company of Women

Gloria

Gloria: A Novel

The Clarinet Polka: A Novel

The Clarinet Polka: A Novel

Motet

Dementia Americana (Azimuts)

Gloria

Running: Difficulty at the Beginning, Book 1

Looking Good: Difficulty at the Beginning