Literary Fiction · MelancholicA New York editor is called home to stop his father's remarriage
A Summons to Memphis
by Peter Taylor
Two sisters call their brother home to stop their widowed father from remarrying
Phillip Carver is a middle-aged editor in New York. His two unmarried sisters summon him back to Memphis because they want his help in stopping their elderly father from remarrying. As he returns, he reflects on his family's decline and on how it has shaped their lives.
More about this book
Who
Phillip Carver, a New York editor; his two unmarried sisters; and their elderly father, a former lawyer.
World
Memphis, Tennessee, in the present of the story, with the family's past in Nashville during the Great Depression.
What makes it different
The family left Nashville after the father lost heavily in failed investments with his friend and business partner, Lewis Shackleford. It won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Feel
Quiet and reflective, a family story told by a man looking back.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- A Summons to MemphisWikipedia