But few contemporary fans of this story of a woman’s self-realization know its source. Olive Higgins Prouty’s 1941 novel Now, Voyager provides an even richer, deeper portrait of the inner life of its protagonist and the society she inhabits. Viewed from a distance of more than 60 years, it also offers fresh and quietly radical takes on psychiatric treatment, traditional family life, female desire, and women’s agency.Boston blueblood Charlotte Vale has led an unhappy, sheltered life. Lonely, dowdy, repressed, and pushing 40, Charlotte finds salvation at a sanitarium, where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation. After her extreme makeover, the new Charlotte tests her mettle by embarking on a cruise—and finds herself in a torrid love affair with a married man which ends at the conclusion of the voyage. But only then can the real journey begin, as Charlotte is forced to navigate a new life for herself. While Now, Voyager is a tear-jerking romance, it is at the same time the empowering story of a woman who finds the strength to chart her own course in life; who discovers love, sex, and even motherhood outside of marriage; and who learns that men are, ultimately, dispensable in the quest for happiness and fulfillment.Olive Higgins Prouty (1882–1974), like many of her characters a wealthy Bostonian, was the author of ten novels, including Stella Dallas (1923), which became the basis for three films and a long-running radio serial. A graduate of Smith College, Prouty endowed a writer’s scholarship at Smith that was received by Sylvia Plath, who later portrayed her patron unflatteringly in The Bell Jar.

    Historical Novel

    

    Bride of the last descendant of the House of Rohan, Mary was alone in the ghost-ridden manor when she came upon the portrait in a hidden room. Driven by forces she could not explain, she soon found herself in an atmosphere of soul-searing terror and evil, as she strove to unlock a fatal secret--the ancient mystery of two star-crossed lovers.

    First it was his partner, Oke Johnson, shot in the head by a silenced rifle. Then it was the femme fatale Ginger Bolton, who took him for a wild ride his first night in town. But it’s Penelope Grayson—the sultry blonde whose uncle hired Craven to shake her loose from a local cult—who takes the prize. Penelope calls herself a Daughter of Solomon, a member of a group mixed up in everything from viticulture to gambling and prostitution. As Craven gets closer to the cult, he realizes that it isn’t the town’s only danger. To solve the case of Oke’s murder and free Penelope from the grasp of Solomon, Craven must also tangle with a crooked police chief, a treacherous lawyer, and a ruthless gangster—all primed to bring him down unless he can outwit them first.

    It begins the moment that the gates of Grand Central close behind him, and Arthur, who has never been anywhere but Albany, meets up with:A once famous and wealthy criminal lawyer who has nothing left but thirty-two-dollar-a-week job and a passion for moldy sardines...A young waitress from Oregon with a razor-edged tongue, a love for strong drink and a curious career behind her...A lovely woman in her middle forties who began her career on Broadway and is ending it in the only profession that is older than acting...Toward the end of this novel the story reaches out and grabs Arthur, who has thought of himself as an innocent bystander, and shakes into tiny bits his serenity, his previous notions, his whole life.And quite wisely he decidesI'LL NEVER GO THERE ANY MORE.

    Stirling's colorful "The Red Game"ANDPaul Gallico, Budd Schulberg, Irwin Shaw, Sinclair Lewis and 13 others--21 of the greatest names in contemporary fiction--and these are their best stories.text from the back cover blurb of the Permabooks edition.