The Lonely Polygamist: A NovelFrom a luminous storyteller, a highly anticipated new novel about the American family writ large. Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging. Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family—with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy—pushed to its outer limits. |
Contents
Section 1 | 15 |
Section 2 | 41 |
Section 3 | 58 |
Section 4 | 68 |
Section 5 | 74 |
Section 6 | 80 |
Section 7 | 90 |
Section 8 | 106 |
Section 24 | 326 |
Section 25 | 340 |
Section 26 | 357 |
Section 27 | 367 |
Section 28 | 383 |
Section 29 | 398 |
Section 30 | 415 |
Section 31 | 428 |
Section 9 | 109 |
Section 10 | 121 |
Section 11 | 147 |
Section 12 | 155 |
Section 13 | 171 |
Section 14 | 175 |
Section 15 | 190 |
Section 16 | 211 |
Section 17 | 221 |
Section 18 | 229 |
Section 19 | 236 |
Section 20 | 256 |
Section 21 | 286 |
Section 22 | 303 |
Section 23 | 318 |
Section 32 | 441 |
Section 33 | 460 |
Section 34 | 465 |
Section 35 | 483 |
Section 36 | 491 |
Section 37 | 509 |
Section 38 | 515 |
Section 39 | 540 |
Section 40 | 566 |
Section 41 | 571 |
Section 42 | 577 |
Section 43 | 586 |
Section 44 | 594 |
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Common terms and phrases
arms asked Aunt Beverly Aunt Trish bathroom Big House breath Brother called chest church Cooter couldn’t dark didn’t door Ervil LeBaron everything eyes face father Faye feel feet felt Fig Newton front gave girl going Golden Golden Richards Golden's hair hand hard he’d head heard Huila inside June kids kind kiss kitchen knew laugh light looked Maureen mother mouth Nelson Nephi Nestor never night nodded Nola Okay Old House once ostrich pants pickup plural marriage pulled Quonset huts Rose-of-Sharon Rusty Sasquatch seemed sheriff shirt shoulder shouted side sighed Sister sitting smell smile snork someone sorry sound stared step stood stop sure talk Ted Leo tell thing thought Three Stooges told took trying turned Uncle Chick voice waiting walked watching whispered wife window wives woman wondered