{"product_id":"ladies-of-the-rachmaninoff-eyes-paperback","title":"Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eHenry Van Dyke\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eErik Wood\u003c\/b\u003e (Foreword by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA lost midcentury classic--the farcical misadventures of a queer Black teen sharing a house with two adoptive mothers, a lascivious cook, and a reticent ghost.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn a small Michigan town, in the late 1950s, the widow Etta Klein--wealthy and Jewish--has for more than thirty years relied for aid, comfort, and companionship on her Black housekeeper Harriet Gibbs. Between \"Aunt Harry\" and Etta, a relationship has developed that is closer than a friendship, yet not quite a marriage. They are inseparable, at once absurdly unequal and defined by a comic codependence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Forever mourning the early death of her favorite son, Sargent, Etta has all but adopted Aunt Harry's nephew, the precocious, gay seventeen-year-old Oliver, who has been raised by both women. Oliver is facing down his departure to college--and fending off the advances of Etta's cook, Nella Mae--when the household is disrupted by the arrival of a self-proclaimed \"warlock,\" one Maurice LeFleur, who has convinced Etta and Harry that he might be able to contact Sargent in the afterlife . . . \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eLadies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes\u003c\/i\u003e was the debut of the extraordinary Henry Van Dyke, whose witty and outrageous novels look back to the sparkling, elaborate comedies of Ronald Firbank and forward to postmodern burlesques like Fran Ross's \u003ci\u003eOreo\u003c\/i\u003e. There is nothing else quite like them in American fiction.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHenry Van Dyke\u003c\/b\u003e (1928-2011) was born in Allegan, Michigan, and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where his parents were professors at Alabama State College. He served in the Army in occupied Germany, playing flute in the 427th Marching Band. There he abandoned his early ambition to become a concert pianist and began to write. In 1958, after attending the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill and living in Ann Arbor, he moved to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry taught creative writing part-time at Kent State University from 1969 until his retirement in 1993, and was the author of four novels, including \u003ci\u003eBlood of Strawberries\u003c\/i\u003e, a sequel to \u003ci\u003eLadies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eErik Wood\u003c\/b\u003e is an architect and urban designer whose clients have included the Hudson River Park Conservancy, the Port of San Diego, and the State of Qatar. He is Henry Van Dyke's nephew and literary executor.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 8.1 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 30, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47381718466738,"sku":"9781946022882","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/73ebc8b9cdcde1db3acd18782b2109e5.webp?v=1777819197","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/ladies-of-the-rachmaninoff-eyes-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}