About The First Warm Evening of the Year
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 12, 2013)
Geoffrey Tremont is untroubled by his neat, contented bachelor life in bustling New York City. On an ordinary day, Geoffrey arrives home to find a letter awaiting him with a postmark from an unfamiliar town: Shady Grove, New York. An old friend has named him the executor of her estate. Twenty years ago, in college, Geoffrey and Laura Welles had been each other’s confidant; as their lives diverged, they went their separate ways. Now she’s reached out of the past to ask him a final favor.
Traveling up to Laura’s hometown, Geoffrey meets Marian Ballantine. A widow living in the shadow of an idyllic marriage and now grieving the loss of her best friend, Marian knows a lot about Geoffrey. Laura often spoke of him, she tells him, and though he’s flattered, he’s also thrown off balance. From the moment he first sees her, Geoffrey instinctively knows this attractive, plainspoken woman has the power to upend his cool, compartmentalized life.
The First Warm Evening of the Year is a gripping and evocative novel that resonates on every page with the joys and pains of being alive.
About Jamie M. Saul
I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, attended public school there, and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, an all-boys school, at the time, with renowned alumni that includes Richard Avedon, the great photographer; novelist James Baldwin; playwrights and screenwriters Paddy Chayefsky and Neil Simon; and several famous actors, film directors, and athletes. I received my bachelors degree in English from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana.
For most my life, all I wanted to do, which is to say the only thing I wanted to be, was a writer, and all my energies were directed toward that goal. Most everything else about me that is pertinent can be found in the P.S. material at the back of the Harper Perennial edition of my novel Light of Day. I can add that my life has been and still is fairly unremarkable. I have very little in common with the characters of Light of Day. I don’t have any children. I have never been divorced nor abandoned by a wife, and except for being a guest professor at Yale, I’ve never held a position with a college or university. I will say that I have a dislike of facile thinking; one’s mind should always stay open and remain keen to change and new ideas. To quote e.e. cummings “…even if it’s Sunday, may i be wrong.”
My interest in art and artists also began around the time I discovered foreign cinema, and the artists I admire are also mentioned in my P.S. material, but I will add that along with Paul Cézanne, I consider Marcel Duchamp among the most important artists and thinkers of the modern era.
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Jamie’s Tour Stops
Wednesday, February 13th: West Metro Mommy
Thursday, February 14th: Fresh Basil
Monday, February 18th: Adorkable Me
Tuesday, February 19th: 5 Minutes for Books
Wednesday, February 20th: BookNAround
Monday, February 25th: A Book Geek
Wednesday, February 27th: The Scarlet Letter
Thursday, February 28th: Regular Rumination
Tuesday, March 5th: Lavish Bookshelf
Thursday, March 7th: A Chick Who Reads
Tuesday, March 19th: Book Journey