A Window Across the River - Paperback

by Brian Morton (Author)

Isaac and Nora haven't seen each other in five years, yet when Nora phones Isaac late one night, he knows who it is before she's spoken a word. Isaac, a photographer, is relinquishing his artistic career, while Nora, a writer, is seeking to rededicate herself to hers.

Fueled by their rediscovered love, Nora is soon on fire with the best work she's ever done, until she realizes that the story she's writing has turned into a fictionalized portrait of Isaac, exposing his frailties and compromises and sure to be viewed by him as a betrayal. How do we remain faithful to our calling if it estranges us from the people we love? How do we remain in love after we have seen the very worst of our loved ones? These are some of the questions explored in a novel that critics are calling "an absolute pleasure" (The Seattle Times).

Front Jacket

Isaac and Nora haven't seen each other in five years, yet when Nora phones Isaac late one night, he knows who it is before she's spoken a word -- he recognizes her silence. Soon the two are rediscovering their love. Isaac, a photographer, is thinking about giving up his artistic career, while Nora, a writer, is rededicating herself to hers. Nora is on fire with the best work she's ever done, until she realizes that the story she's writing has turned into a fictionalized portrait of Isaac -- a pitiless portrait of his frailties and compromises that he is sure to view as a betrayal.
How to remain faithful to one's calling if it estranges us from the people we love; how to remain in love after we have seen the very worst of our loved ones -- these are some of the problems that Brian Morton explores with the same depth and compassion that marked his previous work.

Back Jacket

A story at once joyous, funny and bittersweet, told with delicate artistry and an aching regard for human frailty. For some readers, Brian Morton may still be an undiscovered treasure. He won't be for long. --Newsday
Isaac and Nora haven't seen each other in five years, yet when Nora phones Isaac late one night, he knows who it is before she speaks. The two rediscover their love, and Nora, a writer, is soon on fire with the best work she has ever done. Absorbed by her writing, she doesn't realize at first that her story is a fictionalized portrait of Isaac, exposing his frailties and compromises, sure to be viewed by him as a betrayal. The conflict tests the limits of their relationship and raises deeply complex questions about how we remain faithful to our calling if it estranges us from the people we love.

"An absolute pleasure... " -- Seattle Times

Brian Morton is the author of The Dylanist and Starting Out in the Evening. He has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Koret Jewish Book Award for Fiction, a Guggenheim Foundation Award, and has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Morton lives in New York City.