The Wapshot Chronicle (Perennial Classics)

About this book

When The Wapshot Chronicle was published in 1957 John Cheever was already recognized as a writer of superb short stories. But The Wapshot Chronicle which won the 1958 National Book Award established him as a major novelist. Based in part on Cheevers adolescence in New England the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village. Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son Moses; and of Moses adoring and errant younger brother Coverly. Tragic and funny ribald and splendidly picaresque The Wapshot Chronicle is a family narrative in the tradition of Trollope Dickens and Henry James.