Chilly Scenes of Winter » (Reissue)

To many readers, Ann Beattie was the diarist for a whole cross-section of American society. Wryly chronicling the confusion and disillusionment of a generation stuck with the free-love era's hangover, the prolific short story writer and novelist set the tone for coming of age in the '70s and after.

This is the story of a love-smitten Charles; his friend Sam, the Phi Beta Kappa and former coat salesman; and Charles' mother, who spends a lot of time in the bathtub feeling depressed.

John Updike

"Chilly Scenes falls beautifully...(Beattie's) style builds around as a maze of familiar truth that nevertheless has something airy, eerie, and in the end lovely about it." -- The New Yorker