Left to Themselves

by Mary Grimm

Left to themselves, they drift, drink, disconnect. This stunning novel, by award-winning story writer Mary Grimm, is about loss and love in ordinary lives. One night, in a bar, Lucette drifts into Harry's life. Distant, passionate, passive, Lucette is the catalyst of change. Harry has been in and out of jobs, bars, and women's beds, adept at avoidance, at not dealing with things, including feelings under the surface of his friendship with his cousin Cynthia. Cynthia goes through the motions of a marriage, but in fact spends her days waiting for Harry; she cannot find it in herself to leave the house that once belonged to her grandmother, where she and Harry played as children. The aimlessness with which Mary Grimm's flawlessly rendered characters live out their lives stems from complexities they are determined to ignore, to forget, repress - an ungiving mother, a father who died too soon, sexual feelings actions and inactions that shift the fragile balance in people and in life. Beautifully written, full of startling insight, Mary Grimm's mesmerizing novel illuminates the pretenses people use to avoid acknowledging the difficulty and pain of daily life. Left to Themselves is a remarkable first novel, one that reveals the empty spaces within us all.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published March 23, 1993