The Maytrees: A Novel

Description

Toby Maytree first sees Lou Bigelow on her bicycle in postwar Provincetown, Massachusetts. Her laughter and loveliness catch his breath. Maytree is a Provincetown native, an educated poet of thirty. As he courts Lou, just out of college, her stillness draws him. Hands-off, he hides his serious wooing, and idly shows her his poems. In spare, elegant prose, Dillard traces the Maytrees' decades of loving and longing. They live cheaply among the nonconformist artists and writers that the bare tip of Cape Cod attracts. When their son Petie appears, their innocent Bohemian friend Deary helps care for him. But years later it is Deary who causes the town to talk. In this moving novel, Dillard intimately depicts willed bonds of loyalty, friendship, and abiding love. She presents nature's vastness and nearness. Warm and hopeful, The Maytrees is the surprising capstone of Dillard's original body of work. Title Page......Page 3 Dedication Page......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Prologue......Page 7 Part One......Page 67 Part Two......Page 105 Part Three......Page 179 Epilogue......Page 205 About the Author......Page 223 Also by Annie Dillard......Page 224 Credits......Page 225 Copyright Notice......Page 226 About the Publisher......Page 227