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They Came Like Swallows
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They Came Like Swallows Paperback - 1997

by William Maxwell

Through the eyes of two boys and their father, William Maxwell reveals the complex woman who is the unacknowledged source of their happiness--and whose death during the influenza epic of 1918 will devastate them all. "They Came Like Swallows" tenderly depicts the currents of love and need that run through every family--and whose true depth becomes evident only in moments of tragedy.


From the publisher

   William Maxwell was born in 1908, in Lincoln, Illinois. When he was fourteen his family moved to Chicago and he continues his education there and at the University of Illinois.  After a year of graduate work at Harvard he went back to Urbana and taught freshman composition, and then turned to writing.  He has published six novels, three collections of literary essays and reviews, and a book for children.  For forty years he was a fiction editor at The New Yorker. From 1969 to 1972 he was president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters,  He received the Brandeis Creative Arts Award Medal and, for So Long, See You Tomorrow,  the American Book Award and the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in 2000.

From the jacket flap

hrough the eyes of two boys and their father, William Maxwell reveals the complex woman who is the unacknowledged source of their happiness--and whose death during the influenza epic of 1918 will devastate them all. They Came Like Swallows tenderly depicts the currents of love and need that run through every family--and whose true depth becomes evident only in moments of tragedy.

Details

  • Title They Came Like Swallows
  • Author William Maxwell
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 8th
  • Pages 192
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 1997-03-25
  • ISBN 9780679772576 / 067977257X
  • Weight 0.4 lbs (0.18 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 in (20.07 x 13.21 x 1.52 cm)
  • Themes
    • Topical: Family
  • Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Mothers - Death - Fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 96046880
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

"A story of such engaging warmth that it would thaw the heart of any critic... will melt many a reader to tears."- Times

"A heart-warming tale, the book bears witness to William Maxwell's genuine artistry."- Christian Science Monitor

"Rare...exquisite...a cameo-like perfection."- The New York Herald Tribune

"A sensitive, wistful reminiscence... very delightful."- V.S. Pritchett

Citations

  • New York Times, 11/02/1997, Page 44

About the author

William Maxwell was born in 1908, in Lincoln, Illinois. When he was fourteen his family moved to Chicago and he continues his education there and at the University of Illinois. After a year of graduate work at Harvard he went back to Urbana and taught freshman composition, and then turned to writing. He has published six novels, three collections of literary essays and reviews, and a book for children. For forty years he was a fiction editor at The New Yorker. From 1969 to 1972 he was president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, He received the Brandeis Creative Arts Award Medal and, for So Long, See You Tomorrow, the American Book Award and the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in 2000.

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They Came Like Swallows
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They Came Like Swallows

by Maxwell, William

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They Came Like Swallows
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They Came Like Swallows

by Maxwell, William

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