A Student of Weather

Synopsis: On the prairie of Dust Bowl Canada, two sisters fall down the same well, and the well is named Maurice Dove A Student of Weather is a brilliant first novel by acclaimed story-writer Elizabeth Hay. Already a best seller in Canada, it tells the story of the rivalry between two contrasting sisters and of the stranger who changes both their lives forever. Spanning thirty years, it opens in the Prairie Dust Bowl of the 1930s and, later, in the decades following the war, moves back and forth between Ottawa and New York City. Maurice Dove is a visitor to the Saskatchewan farm of widower Ernest Hardy. The relationship he forms with Hardy's daughters-the beautiful, virtuous Lucinda and the dark, intelligent, younger Norma-Joyce-gives rise to an act of betrayal that throws into relief the deep-rooted enmity between them. Norma-Joyce's life, from the time she is eight, is fuelled by her obsessive (and unrequited) love for Maurice Dove. Later, in pursuing her life as an artist, she makes discoveries about her past that bring the story full-circle.Hay's evocation of place is palpable, vivid; her characters at once eccentric and familiar. Norma-Joyce, once a strange, dark, self-possessed child, becomes a woman who learns something of self-forgiveness and of the redemptive power of art. Hay's writing is spare yet richly textured, dark and erotic. The physical and emotional landscapes she portrays evoke tragic and comic surprises, and teach us about the lasting imprint of first love."Elizabeth Hay has intelligence coming out of her fingertips -integrity, insight, and wonder in every paragraph of her writing. She's a writer's writer, yes-but she has the advantage, too, of being a reader's writer. She connects. She stirs and provokes. May A Student of Weather receive all the accolades and readers this wonderful writer deserves." -Timothy Findley, Author of Pilgrim"What I admire most about A Student of Weather, and there is much to admire, are Elizabeth Hay's vivid, robust characters. Over and over they surprised me, and sometimes themselves, by their generosity, their meanness, their affections. I couldn't stop turning the pages of this passionate and intricate novel." -Margot Livesey, Author of The Missing WorldA brilliant exploration of the universal themes of pain and betrayal and survival, rendered with such a sure, deft touch that Hay seems to be discovering new literary territory." -Quill & Quire From the Back Cover: In the opening scene of this luminous story, a handsome stranger emerges out of a storm in the midst of the Prairie Dust Bowl, setting off a 30-year rivalry. A finalist for the 2000 Giller Prize, A Student of Weather demonstrates that some accidents in life are note easily forgotten. When Maurice Doves arrives at the Hardy family homestead to study its strange weather patterns, eight-year-old Norma Joyce falls madly in love with him. So does her sister, Lucinda. In painterly prose akin to that of Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende, Hay describes Norma Joyce's journey from the Prairies of the 1930s to post-war Ottawa and New York. In this celebrated novel, Elizabeth Hay tells a dark, erotic, richly textured story of obsessive love. Narrated by stage and television actor Jennifer Overton, this audio edition of A Student of Weather lays bare an emotional landscape full of surprise and contradiction. "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.…