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Julia Glass, author of the award-winning novel Three Junes, tells a vivid tale of longing and loss, revealing the subtle mechanisms behind our most important connections to others. In The Whole World Over, she pays tribute once again to the extraordinary complexities of love.Greenie Duquette lavishes most of her passionate energy on her Greenwich Village bakery and her young son. Her husband, Alan, seems to have fallen into a midlife depression, while Walter, her closest professional ally, is nursing a broken heart. At Walter s restaurant, the visiting governor of New Mexico tastes Greenie s coconut cake and decides to woo her away to be his chef. For reasons both ambitious and desperate, she accepts heading west without her husband. This impulsive decision, along with events beyond Greenie s control, will change the course of several lives around her."
Review Quotes
1. Praise for "The Whole World Over"
"In her second rich, subtle novel, Glass reveals how the past impinges on the present, and how small incidents of fate and chance determine the future . . . Glass brings the same assured narrative drive and engaging prose to this exploration of the quest for love and its tests-absence, doubt, infidelity, guilt and loss."
-"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"The cultures of Manhattan and New Mexico, straight and gay relationships, parents and children, are sensitively explored in Glass's replete successor to her NBA-winning debut novel, "Three Junes" . . . Glass knows what she's doing. Readers who love quirky characters and a gentle wit that breathes affection even as it skewers human foolishness and frailty will follow her anywhere."
-"Kirkus Reviews" (starred review)
"ÝA¨ winning second novel . . . Harks back to Trollope and Tolstoy. Like her predecessors, ÝGlass¨ finds inspiration in the vicissitudes of family strife . . . Watching Glass sort out a dozen intersecting story lines is never less than fascinating. In keeping with her nineteenth-century influences, she resolves all loose ends, treating everyone with remarkable evenhandedness in her bustling, congenial world."
-Elizabeth Judd, "The Atlantic Monthly"
"How does one follow up a National Book Award? Glass ("Three Junes" ) creates an array of full-bodied yet vulnerable characters whose intersecting lives converge on September 11 . . . Glass's long but always captivating tale is a quilt of many colors and motivations whose strongest threads are love of family and sense of self."
-"Library Journal"
"A voluptuous treat." --Entertainment Weekly, A-
"Glassgracefully Ýand¨ deftly explores the sacrifices, compromises, and leaps of faith that accompany love." --Booklist
"This delicious novel is so like life." --More
Praise for "Three Junes"
""Three Junes" brilliantly rescues, then refurbishes, the traditional plot-driven novel . . . Glass has written a generous book about family expectations--but also about happiness."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Radiant . . . an intimate literary triptych of lives pulled together and torn apart."
--"Chicago Tribune"
"Enormously accomplished . . . rich, absorbing, and full of life." --"The New Yorker"
""Three Junes" almost threatens to burst with all the life it contains. Glass's ability to illuminate and deepen the mysteries of her characters' lives is extraordinary."
--Michael Cunningham, author of "The Hours"
"A warm, wise debut . . . "Three Junes" marks a blessed event for readers of literary fiction everywhere." --"San Francisco Chronicle"
"From the Hardcover edition."
2. Praise for "The Whole World Over"
" In her second rich, subtle novel, Glass reveals how the past impinges on the present, and how small incidents of fate and chance determine the future . . . Glass brings the same assured narrative drive and engaging prose to this exploration of the quest for love and its tests-absence, doubt, infidelity, guilt and loss."
- "Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
" The cultures of Manhattan and New Mexico, straight and gay relationships, parents and children, are sensitively explored in Glass's replete successor to her NBA-winning debut novel, "Three Junes" . . . Glass knows what she's doing. Readers who love quirky characters and a gentle wit that breathes affection even as it skewers human foolishness and frailty will follow her anywhere."
- "Kirkus Reviews" (starred review)
" [A] winning second novel . . . Harks back to Trollope and Tolstoy. Like her predecessors, [Glass] finds inspiration in the vicissitudes of family strife . . . Watching Glass sort out a dozen intersecting story lines is never less than fascinating. In keeping with her nineteenth-century influences, she resolves all loose ends, treating everyone with remarkable evenhandedness in her bustling, congenial world."
- Elizabeth Judd, "The Atlantic Monthly"
" How does one follow up a National Book Award? Glass ("Three Junes" ) creates an array of full-bodied yet vulnerable characters whose intersecting lives converge on September 11 . . . Glass's long but always captivating tale is a quilt of many colors and motivations whose strongest threads are love of family and sense of self."
- "Library Journal"
" A voluptuous treat." --Entertainment Weekly, A-
" Glass gracefully [and] deftly explores the sacrifices, compromises, and leaps of faith that accompany love." --Booklist
" This delicious novel is so like life." --More
Praise for "Three Junes"
" "Three Junes" brilliantly rescues, then refurbishes, the traditional plot- driven novel . . . Glass has written a generous book about family expectations-- but also about happiness."
-- "The New York Times Book Review"
" Radiant . . . an intimate literary triptych of lives pulled together and torn apart."
-- "Chicago Tribune"
" Enormously accomplished . . . rich, absorbing, and full of life." -- "The New Yorker"
" "Three Junes" almost threatens to burst with all the life it contains. Glass's ability to illuminate and deepen the mysteries of her characters' lives is extraordinary."
-- Michael Cunningham, author of "The Hours"
" A warm, wise debut . . . "Three Junes" marks a blessed event for readers of literary fiction everywhere." -- "San Francisco Chronicle"
"From the Hardcover edition."
3. " Gorgeous. . . . delicious, delightful, and deeply satisfying." -- "The Times-Picayune"
" Her second novel is even finer than her first. . . . Glass offers unobtrusive yet resounding insights into the paradoxes of families, the necessary solace of friendship and the volatility of intimate relationships gay and straight. Her social commentary is at once mischievous and trenchant." -- "Chicago Tribune"
" Enormously appealing and inventive . . . sure to solidify Julia Glass' reputation as one of America's most talented younger novelists." -- "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
" A generous, tentacled, ensemble novel. . . . [Glass] is deft at the quick portraiture and character shorthand that this novelistic approach requires." -- "Los Angeles Times Book Review"
" Glass pins down these lives with verve, precision, and depth.... A wise book, with breadth as well as depth." -- "The Oregonian"
4. "Gorgeous. . . . delicious, delightful, and deeply satisfying." --"The Times-Picayune" "Her second novel is even finer than her first. . . . Glass offers unobtrusive yet resounding insights into the paradoxes of families, the necessary solace of friendship and the volatility of intimate relationships gay and straight. Her social commentary is at once mischievous and trenchant." --"Chicago Tribune""Enormously appealing and inventive . . . sure to solidify Julia Glass' reputation as one of America's most talented younger novelists." --"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution""A generous, tentacled, ensemble novel. . . . [Glass] is deft at the quick portraiture and character shorthand that this novelistic approach requires." --"Los Angeles Times Book Review""Glass pins down these lives with verve, precision, and depth.... A wise book, with breadth as well as depth." --"The Oregonian"
5. Gorgeous. . . . delicious, delightful, and deeply satisfying. The Times-Picayune Her second novel is even finer than her first. . . . Glass offers unobtrusive yet resounding insights into the paradoxes of families, the necessary solace of friendship and the volatility of intimate relationships gay and straight. Her social commentary is at once mischievous and trenchant. Chicago Tribune Enormously appealing and inventive . . . sure to solidify Julia Glass reputation as one of America's most talented younger novelists. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A generous, tentacled, ensemble novel. . . . [Glass] is deft at the quick portraiture and character shorthand that this novelistic approach requires. Los Angeles Times Book Review Glass pins down these lives with verve, precision, and depth.... A wise book, with breadth as well as depth. The Oregonian"
