Description:
Hardback. Acceptable.
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Summary
In his first novel, David Huddle tells a delicately nuanced story of relationships between men and women that is as old as human history itself. It begins with a startling secret affair between fifteen-year-old Marcy and the husband of her mother's best friend. Years later, the emotional fallout from the affair still echoes in unexpected ways through the lives of the people closest to Marcy: her husband and the couple who have remained their friends since high school. A multilayered tale unfolds through their eyes, in which each character seeks to recapture a kernel of long-forgotten goodness. In the tradition of John Updike and John Cheever, Huddle renders these complex relationships with clarity and depth. "For grownups with brains," said Richard Bausch of Huddle's earlier work. The same is true of The Story of a Million Years, a novel written with poetry, wisdom, and a masterly sense of humanity.
Details
- Title The Story of a Million Years
- Author David Huddle
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition 1st Edition
- Pages 208
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Houghton Mifflin, Boston
- Date 1999-09-20
- ISBN 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Weight 0.78 lbs (0.35 kg)
- Dimensions 8.57 x 6.03 x 0.82 in (21.77 x 15.32 x 2.08 cm)
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 99032213
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
Media reviews
"The Story of a Million Years filled my heart with crazy agitation-- so many memorable scenes, so perfectly balanced a story. How Huddle orchestrates such complex emotions and powerful incidents of young-adulthood is knock-you-over proof of his genius. He's such a splendid writer-- this novel rewards you in the utmost pleasing, disturbing, and yes, perhaps mysterious ways." -- Howard Norman, author of THE BIRD ARTIST and THE MUSEUM GUARD
"David Huddle's first novel is masterful and often stunning, so carefully written that the words shimmer with purpose and necessity. Essentially the tale of two couples who have known each other since they were all teenagers, The Story of a Million Years follows Marcy and Allen, Uta and Jimmy as they try to keep going through storms of nostalgia, grief, manic lust. The foursome have been together so long that they all know the same songs. Sometimes Uta dreams about Allen, and Jimmy has long been convinced he loves Marcy, but as time moves on, these hushed-up desires become smooth and polished, like stones. Moving back and forth through and instances, Huddle brilliantly captures the sense of marriage as a system of secrets, in which certain memories and infidelities are held close like shields, talismans that protect the self from being subsumed altogether by the structures we build around love, the houses we build to contain our impulses. Like someone playing a song over and over again at different speeds, the author recapitulates key moments until they break apart. For Uta one such moment happens when she's in college, lost in Manhattan after her friends ditch her, wandering back to their apartment at dawn. She doesn't push the buzzer to wake her flaky friends. Instead she sleeps in the front hallway in a Uta's attachment to this moment is beautifully rendered in her down-to-earth, Lutheran-raised, sad-hearted voice. She remembers vividly "the crazy little bit of goodness that came into me in the front hall when I was standing there all by myself with my finger about to press the doorbell, when I knew I was safe, and when I decided not to disturb the sleepers. That was the closest I'll ever come to knowing what it feels like to be one of the really decent saints, like Saint Francis, or Saint Teresa of Lisieux. It was the only time I've ever had that feeling..." -- Emily White Amazon.com
"David Huddle's first novel is masterful and often stunning, so carefully written that the words shimmer with purpose and necessity. Essentially the tale of two couples who have known each other since they were all teenagers, The Story of a Million Years follows Marcy and Allen, Uta and Jimmy as they try to keep going through storms of nostalgia, grief, manic lust. The foursome have been together so long that they all know the same songs. Sometimes Uta dreams about Allen, and Jimmy has long been convinced he loves Marcy, but as time moves on, these hushed-up desires become smooth and polished, like stones. Moving back and forth through and instances, Huddle brilliantly captures the sense of marriage as a system of secrets, in which certain memories and infidelities are held close like shields, talismans that protect the self from being subsumed altogether by the structures we build around love, the houses we build to contain our impulses. Like someone playing a song over and over again at different speeds, the author recapitulates key moments until they break apart. For Uta one such moment happens when she's in college, lost in Manhattan after her friends ditch her, wandering back to their apartment at dawn. She doesn't push the buzzer to wake her flaky friends. Instead she sleeps in the front hallway in a Uta's attachment to this moment is beautifully rendered in her down-to-earth, Lutheran-raised, sad-hearted voice. She remembers vividly "the crazy little bit of goodness that came into me in the front hall when I was standing there all by myself with my finger about to press the doorbell, when I knew I was safe, and when I decided not to disturb the sleepers. That was the closest I'll ever come to knowing what it feels like to be one of the really decent saints, like Saint Francis, or Saint Teresa of Lisieux. It was the only time I've ever had that feeling..." -- Emily White Amazon.com
More Copies for Sale
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Acceptable
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
CA$1.39CA$15.05 shipping to USA
Show Details
Item Price
CA$1.39
CA$15.05
shipping to USA
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
CA$1.39CA$15.05 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Hardback. Very Good.
Item Price
CA$1.39
CA$15.05
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$1.48CA$4.14 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Used - Very Good. . . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofi t job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Item Price
CA$1.48
CA$4.14
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Simi Valley, California, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$2.76CA$5.51 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999-09-20. Hardcover. Very Good. 0.8189 8.5709 6.0315.
Item Price
CA$2.76
CA$5.51
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Narrowsburg, New York, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$4.13CA$6.78 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Wilmington, Massachusetts, U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. RELIABLE library withdrawal in the plastic, protective cover. Stamped at the page edge with a card pocket page on the inside. Light scuff to the plastic cover. This edition is PRESENTABLE!. Hard Cover. Good.
Item Price
CA$4.13
CA$6.78
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Simi Valley, California, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$4.13CA$5.51 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999-09-20. Hardcover. Very Good. 0.8189 8.5709 6.0315. First edition. Minor wear on the covers, corners, and the edges. Like shelf wear. May contain some writing and or highlighting within the pages and covers.
Item Price
CA$4.13
CA$5.51
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
story of a million years
by huddle, david
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
RIVER FALLS, Wisconsin, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$5.51CA$7.58 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Hard Cover. Houghton Mifflin 1999. First Edition. Unless Listed in this decription, VG or Better.
Item Price
CA$5.51
CA$7.58
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$8.28FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999. Hardcover. Good. Missing dust jacket; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
CA$8.28
FREE shipping to USA
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$8.28FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999. Hardcover. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Item Price
CA$8.28
FREE shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Story of a Million Years
by Huddle, David
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Edition
- First edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780395966051 / 0395966051
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Arvada, Colorado, United States
- Item Price
-
CA$9.67CA$6.91 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Fine. Couple of small nicks on board edges. Author's first novel. First printing.
Item Price
CA$9.67
CA$6.91
shipping to USA