About this title: Set in rural Wisconsin in 1909, Ralph Truitt stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting.
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Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: New in new dust jacket. First Edition, First Print. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 291 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Date Published: 3/31/2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: New. FIRST EDITION STATED. Hardback w/ DJ. You are buying a Book in NEW condition with very light shelf wear to include very light edge and corner wear. Buy it Now! ! ! As always, thank you for buying this book from International Book Source, YOUR ONE source FOR ALL your BOOK related NEEDS. Please remember to CHOOSE carefully how QUICKLY you would like to RECEIVE this material FAST, or standard (on next page). Thanks again! ! ! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. (A147_5/9)Book is in good condition. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 291 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Date Published: 2009-03-31
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781565125964. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardback
Publisher: LITTLE, BROWN BOOK GROUP Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781408701935ISBN:1408701936
Description: BRAND NEW HARDBACK. 304 pages. * ingenious and twisty, this is a story that will have the reader enthralled from first page to last (Hardback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Thorndike Pr
Date Published: 2009-08-05
ISBN-13:9781410417381ISBN:1410417387
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781410417381. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harpercollins Canada
Date Published: 3/16/2009
ISBN-13:9781554685035ISBN:1554685036
Description: New. 1554685036 Brand New Book With Remainder Mark. May Have Slight Shelf Wear. In-Stock Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Edition: First edition. First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: New in new dust jacket. Signed by author. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 291 p. Audience: General/trade. SIGNED AND DATED BY AUTHOR. New book, opened only for signing. Brodart protected, ships in a box. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: As New in As New jacket. Limited Edition. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Signed by Author A Powell's Indiespensable signed limited first edition in a red cloth bound slipcase. The slip case has a gilt stamped author's signature. This limited edition being Number 79 of 850. Dust jacket is as new with no discernible faults. Flat signed on title page by author. read more
Edition: First edition. First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: New in new dust jacket. Signed by author. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 291 p. Audience: General/trade. SIGNED BY AUTHOR. Numbered and slipcased limited edition. New, no flaws. Ships in a box. read more
Edition: Stated First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781565125964ISBN:1565125967
Description: Fine in Fine dust jacket. 9781565125964. Limited edition in red slip case, number 241 of 850 copies, has dust jacket as well. Stated first edition with full number line. Signed by author on title page. Untouched; 1.2 x 9 x 6.3 Inches; 291 pages; Signed by Author. read more
"This well-written book is both engaging and disturbing. It's 1907 and Ralph Truitt is waiting at the train station in a small town near the Canadian border for the train to arrive. The train that is bringing the woman he is going to marry. He had advertised for "a reliable wife" in newspapers across the country and he has selected Catherine Land from among dozens of women who responded. With him at the station are dozens of citizens of the small town, all of whom know the back story that led Ralph to advertise for a wife. Unfortunately, he realizes as soon as Catherine alights from the train that she is not the woman whose picture he was sent earlier in the summer. He decides to take Catherine home while he decides what to do. And then the true story begins and the layers on layers begin to be revealed. To tell any of the details of the story would be a spoiler. But suffice it to say that the lives of Ralph, Catherine, and several other characters will never be the same. An easily read story about all of the positive and negative aspects of love that will stay with the reader after the book is finished."
Appearances are definitely deceiving in this mediocre, Great-Gatsby wannabe. The book probably does not even warrant the one-star! Set in 1907 in small town northern Wisconsin, the three main characters, Ralph Truitt, Catherine Land and Tony Moretti do nothing but torture themselves and each other...and have sex. Ralph advertises in a Chicago paper for a "reliable wife" and he gets Catherine, who is reliable - only to make the wrong call EVERY TIME. She arrives in town on Ralph's private rail car (yes, he's UBER rich) with a secret. The secret unfolds as Mrs. Catherine Truitt travels to St. Louis (again on the private rail car) to find Ralph's long lost illegitimate son, Tony (his first wife's...clearly Ralph's really good at picking reliable wives). Tony and Catherine have a "sexy" history together and it continues as the secret is revealed. Catherine has married Ralph only to poison him at Tony's request. Anyway, she does poison Ralph but stops just before he dies, nurses him back to health and decides she loves him. Tony comes to visit and make amends with Ralph and out Catherine. Tony tries to rape Catherine, she stabs him twice with scissors. Ralph walks in as this is happening, chases Tony out of the house and onto an icy lake. Tony drowns and Catherine and Ralph live happily-ever-after...
In short...this is Goolrick's fiction debut and the writing is atrocious, the characters shallow and boring.
It definitely does circulate though, and many patrons recommended it. - Heather"
"This really deserves no stars!! I pride myself on reading a book from cover to cover; no matter what. And, this was the first book in a very long time that I could not finish reading. It is deplorable. The book jacket made the story very intriguing: Set in the early 1900s within Rural Wisconsin, Ralph Truitt, an older, rich businessman puts a mail-order bride ad in the paper. The overview pulls you in with intrigue and mystery centering on the young; beautiful; mysterious woman who answers the ad, Catherine Land. And, that is where it ends! The authors writing style, whereby he overly describes the scenes; characters - makes you want to pull your hair out. By the time Catherine is traveling on the train we know exactly what her mysterious past/secret is. If her clothes wasn't a dead giveaway, her thoughts about the appearance of her train car tell you everything you need to know. And Truitt's incessant over analysis of himself and his ability to withstand sex for 20 years is painful to keep reading after 30 pages of the author's descriptive narractive. I tried to skim over the repetitive sections but I still couldn't get myself to completely finish this story."
"A wonderful book with a couple of game-changing twists. The story is great, and unique. I was occasionally put off by the spare--sometimes self-consciously spare and repetitive--prose. The writing fits with the setting and the story, however: stripped down and evocative of another time and place. In using the bare language, however, Goolrick occasionally stalls the flow of the plot--and it's definitely the plot that keeps us reading.
The book stuck with me, as the lessons for living are not explicitly spelled out, but pass through consciousness after the story is told. Goolrick speaks frequently in the book of the madness and despair people are driven to in such isolation and harsh weather--and at the end he mentions another book that influenced his choice of northern, rural Wisconsin as setting. But the references to how climate and isolation shape character come across as jarring rather than embedded in the story; they feel like the one point that the author wants to drive home."
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