The Quick and the Dead

Alice, Corvus and Annabel have each lost their mother, and they make an odd circle of friends in the desert: Alice full of fierce convictions, Corvus sunk in grief, Annabel absorbed in sweaters and skincare. Around them drift restless adults. Annabel's father desires his young Buddhist gardener while he argues, drunk, with his late wife's spiteful ghost. A young stroke victim drifts west as his luck goes from bad to worse, a pianist drawn toward death catches Alice's interest, and a big-game hunter with too much time and money becomes smitten with Emily, a formidable eight-year-old. A nursing home, a wildlife museum and sudden violence mark the girls' world, where the living and the dead are never far apart.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Coming of age (assigned by AI)

Set in

United States

First published

2000 by Alfred A. Knopf

Author's age

56 when first published

ISBN

9780679446460 (Alfred A. Knopf, United States)

9781860469374 (The Harvill Press, United Kingdom)

9780375727641 (Vintage, United States)

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