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The Wapshots of a Massachusetts fishing village: Leander, his sons Moses and Coverly, and Cousin Honora

The Wapshot Chronicle

by John Cheever

1957307 pagesModerate readSteady pace
★ National Book Award for Fiction, 1958

An eccentric family in a Massachusetts fishing village copes with life

This is John Cheever's debut novel. It is set in a Massachusetts fishing village and centers on Leander Wapshot, his sons Moses and Coverly, and his eccentric Cousin Honora. Harper & Brothers published it on March 25, 1957, and Cheever later wrote a sequel, The Wapshot Scandal (1964).

More about this book

Who

Leander Wapshot, his sons Moses and Coverly, and Cousin Honora.

World

A fishing village in Massachusetts.

What makes it different

It is Cheever's first novel and has a sequel, The Wapshot Scandal, published in 1964.

Feel

Often humorous and family-centered. It won the 1958 National Book Award for Fiction.

See it on Amazon

Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition

Further reading

About the author

John Cheever2 books on Tori Books