Book
Queen Esther : A Novel.
After 40 years, John Irving revisits the setting of his classic novel, 'The Cider House Rules' and St. Cloud's, Maine. It is the story of a precocious 14-year-old Jewish girl adopted from the infamous orphanage in St. Clouds to serve as an au pair to their youngest daughter, Honor, and how she became the surrogate biological mother of a child that Honor and the Winslow family will raise as their own. Irving lives in Toronto, ON.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780735276246
- Physical Description: 432 pages ; 23 cm
- Publisher: Canada : Knopf Canada, 2025.
Content descriptions
| Immediate Source of Acquisition Note: | Library Bound Incorporated |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | FICTION / Literary FICTION / Political FICTION / World Literature / American / 21st Century |
Available copies
- 0 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 2 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookstown Branch | ON ORDER | pr08041180 | FICTION | On order | - |
- Random House, Inc.
After forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award winner The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud's, Maine, where Dr. Larch takes in Esther, a three-year-old Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism.
Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board a ship from Bremerhaven to Portland, Maine, and anti-Semites murder her mother in Portland. In St. Cloudâs, itâs clear to Dr. Larch, the orphanage physician and director, that the abandoned child not only knows sheâs Jewish, but sheâs familiar with the biblical Queen Esther she was named for. Dr. Larch knows it wonât be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther, he doubts he'll find any family to adopt her.
When Esther is fourteen, soon to become a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic family with a history of providing for unadopted orphans. The Winslows arenât Jewish, but they detest anti-Semitism and similar prejudice. Estherâs gratitude to the Winslows is unending. As she retraces her steps to her birth city, Esther keeps loving and protecting the Winslowsâeven in Vienna.
The final chapter of this historical novel is set in Jerusalem in 1981, when Esther is seventy-six.
