No marks or inscriptions. A very clean very tight copy with bright unmarked pink boards, American cloth spine and minor bumping to lower corners. Dust jacket not price clipped or marked or torn or creased with minor traces of storage and small indent to rear lower spine edge. 279pp. First Edition fiction from John Updike about Sarah Worth who became enamoured of a Hindu religious leader called the Arhat. A New Englander, she goes to join his commune in Arizona. Includes twenty-three page Glossary of the meanings of Hindu words used in the text. We do not use stock photos, the picture displayed is of the actual book for sale. Every one of our books is in stock in the UK ready for immediate delivery. Size: 8.25 x 5.25 inches. Seller Inventory # 025717

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Bibliographic Details

Title: S. : a Novel

Publisher: Alfred A Knopf, Inc, New York

Publication Date: 1988

Binding: Hard Cover

Condition: Very Good (+)

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good (+)

Edition: First Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

S. is the story of Sarah P. Worth, a thoroughly modern spiritual seeker who has become enamored of a Hindu mystic called the Arhat. A native New Englander, she goes west to join his ashram in Arizona, and there struggles alongside fellow sannyasins (pilgrims) in the difficult attempt to subdue ego and achieve moksha (salvation, release from illusion). “S.” details her adventures in letters and tapes dispatched to her husband, her daughter, her brother, her dentist, her hairdresser, and her psychiatrist—messages cleverly designed to keep her old world in order while she is creating for herself a new one. This is Hester Prynne’s side of the triangle described by Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter; it is also a burlesque of the quest for enlightenment, and an affectionate meditation on American womanhood.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover:

"A Tour De Force." -- The New York Times

"One of Updike's lightest, funniest, and sliest fictions -- a comedy about the sneaky economies of the spirit." -- The New Yorker

"Entirely satisfying and entertaining with a good half-dozen hilarious twists and surprises at the end for everyone...John Updike has given us with S., his 12th and funniest novel." -- Chicago Sun-Times

"Delightful and penetrating...[John Updike] is the chief chronicler of the life and times of the modern American middle class -- and perhaps its most important literary conscience." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Immensely clever...The novel glimmers with the wry intelligence one has come to associate with Updike's vision." -- The Boston Globe

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Godley Books
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