Alice Adams Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Alice Adams was one of the noteworthy authors of the literature and fiction and short story genres hailing from America. She was born on August 14, 1926, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States; and died on May 27, 1999, in San Francisco, California, United States. Other than being a writer, author Adams was also a well known novelist and university professor. She was the only of her parents Agatha Erskine and Nicholson Barney Adams. Author Adams’ mother was also an aspiring writer, but she never got to fulfill herself, while her father used to work as a professor of the Spanish language. The description of her family given by Adams is in the form of three isolated and difficult people. Author Adams spent her growing years in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She completed her school education at the age of fifteen and then joined the Radcliffe College. She completed her graduation at the age of nineteen in the year 1946. Later, Adams got married to Mark Linenthal, who was a Harvard student, just after her graduation. After her marriage, she stayed in Paris for a period of one year. Author Adams has said that she liked Paris very much, but did not like the idea of living there with Mark Linenthal. Later, the couple shifted to Palo Alto as Mark had to join the Stanford University. All the while, she wanted to sit down and write several stories, but the constant shifting of places did not give author Adams much chance to do so. Finally, she got little time to pursue her dream of writing peacefully after she moved to San Francisco in the year 1948 along with her husband. In the year 1951, Adams gave birth to only son named Peter Linenthal, who went on to become an artist. Author Adams sold her debut short story to the Charm magazine. The first novel that she wrote was titled ‘Careless Love’. From the year 1969 onwards, Adams began publishing her stories in daily newspapers and magazines for which she received wide recognition and praise.

In The New Yorker, author Adams published around 25 stories over a period of several years. She also wrote a total of 11 novels, which also her bestselling novel Superior Women. However, author Adams is most admired and best remembered for her short story collection. Adams published all her short stories and novels except one at the Knoph Publishing Group. Many reviewers have described the works of author Adams as the fusion of the sensibilities of authors Mary McCarthy and Jane Austen. She is even believed to have earned her place in the late 20th century literature of America because of her excellent novels and short stories. Author Adams was awarded with numerous prestigious awards over the course of her writing career. One of the most memorable ones is the Henry Lifetime Achievement Award. Author Adams used to be a visiting writer at the California University at Davis and Berkely, as well as at the Stanford University. During the initial years of the 1950s, author Adams was advised by a psychiatrist to stop writing and focus on her marriage. But, she did not pay any heed to it and soon after, her marriage with Mark Linenthal got broken. Adams spent the next few years as a single mother, while doing secretarial jobs to earn her living. She made a domestic partner named Robert McNie who was an interior designer by profession. Author Adams had very close friendships with the novelists Ella LEffland, Diane Johnson, and Max Steele; as well as with the editors William Abrahams, Victoria Wilson, and Frances Kiernan. A majority of the adult life of author Adams was spent in San Francisco. She died at her home in sleep in the year 1999 after being treated for heart problems a week before.

One of the books written by author Alice Adams is titled as ‘Superior Women’. It was released by the Pocket Boks in the year 1998. The story depicted in this book deals with the life of Megan Greene. Being eager to escape from her mother and her Californian town, she moves to Radcliffe. There, she meets a man from Harvard who lets her fulfill her dream of living in the upper middle class on the East Coast. Megan also meets 4 other women like her who have a little in common with respect to their freshman status. Neither Megan nor the women, named Lavinia, Cathy, Janet, and Peg, had any idea that their lives are going to get intertwined. In the year 1943, all the five women come to know that they share a special place in the lives of each other than no other person can and they pose as enemies more often than friends. Over a period of 4 decades, the superior women go on to discover with their swept expectations and time their sexuality, struggle, secrets, etc. The novel draws rich experiences from the day to day life of author Adams, which she has very well described in the novel. The plot mainly deals with the interior, intimate, and unexpected lives of women.

One of the other books written by author Alice Adams is titled as ‘Caroline’s Daughters’. This book was published in the year 2011 by the Knoph publishing house. The story of this book once again deals with the mastery of author Adams in demonstrating the family maze. It also shows the astonishing perception of Adams about the complex and delicate threads that binds the members of a family together. The main character depicted in the book is Caroline Carter, who is quite rich and very much older. She has 5 daughters across three marriages. As Caroline tries to assess what it means exactly to have adult daughters, they follow their lives over the period of one year and meet their lovers and husbands. The readers are able to see the deceptions, triumphs, setbacks, and pleasures in the lives of the daughters. Also, the life of Caroline changes irrevocably as she sees her daughters get the true experience of their lives over the course of that one year. Just like the previous book written by author Adams, this book too became very much successful across the world. It helped her to get highly motivated for writing the future novels in her writing career.

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