Book Summary and Reviews of A Celibate Season by Carol Shields

A Celibate Season by Carol Shields

A Celibate Season

by Carol Shields

  • Published:
  • May 1999, 226 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

For Jocelyn and Charles, the demands of family and career mean a ten-month separation, during which they decide to communicate with one another by writing letters.

Each finds this intimate and exhilarating, as they are able to reveal things that would never be spoken aloud. Yet as the months pass, their letters depict two very distinct views of their time apart and of their marriage. As the separation begins to unravel the threads that bind their marriage together, we bear witness to the evolution and eventually the breakdown of communication. For their "season of celibacy," as they originally joked, is proving to be more of a challenge than either had ever imagined, one that tests the strength of their marriage and their commitment to one another.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A totally lackluster story, yet narrated with enough charm to draw any reader in." ―Kirkus Reviews

This information about A Celibate Season was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

Carol Diggory-Shields is the author of many works for children including the poetry books Lunch Money, Almost Late to School, and After the Bell Rings. She currently works as a children's librarian and previously worked with children as a recreational therapist. She lives in northern California.

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Read-Alikes

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