The Crane Wife

20.00

Ten days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else’s life. In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser releases herself from her story of ‘how life was supposed to be’. She goes looking for more honest ways of living, for new definitions of love. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She rereads ‘Rebecca’ in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in ‘The Philadelphia Story’ to ask whether you can ever have a fresh start with an old love. She writes about friends and lovers and blood family and chosen family and children and animals and ghosts and a whole planet in this book, and hopes you see all of these as love stories.

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Description

‘Outstanding… An elegant masterpiece… Wry but also warm and generous’ Roxane Gay

‘Frank, funny, enthralling… Think of it as rehab for road-weary romantics, inviting us to redefine what constitutes a love story’ Observer

Warning: you will WhatsApp multiple quotes to your friends from your sun-lounger’ Independent

Ten days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else’s life.

In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser lets go of ‘how life was supposed to be’ and goes looking for more honest ways of living. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She reads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to learn how not to lose yourself in a relationship. She writes about friends and lovers, ghosts and robots, grief and heartbreak, blood family and chosen family, and asks what more expansive definitions of love might offer us all.

The Crane Wife is a book for anyone whose life doesn’t look the way they thought it would; for anyone trying, if sometimes failing, to find joy in the unexpected.

‘CJ Hauser understands that there are so many different ways to love and live, and her words make all of them exciting possibilities.’ Natasha Lunn, bestselling author of CONVERSATIONS ON LOVE

‘Universal and exciting… The Crane Wife will satisfy and inspire anyone who has ever asked, ‘How did I get here, and what happens now?’ New York Times

Funny, exciting, vulnerable – truly visionary’ Alexander Chee

‘Intimate, witty and beautifully crafted’ Elle

‘Intimate, wry, compassionate…
a book you want to press into friends’ hands’ Irish Mail on Sunday

Additional information

Weight 0.427 kg
Dimensions 22.2 × 14.4 × 3.1 cm
Book_author

Hauser, CJ

Publisher

Viking

Imprint

Viking

Cover

Hardback

Pages

336

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

814.6 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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