“Vesna Main remains a daring, unpredictable writer” The Irish Times
What is it like to be married for thirty years but experience your first orgasm only after being widowed in your sixties?
How does an older woman change once she discovers her sexuality?
Could she have prevented the death of her husband? Why did she wait for an hour before calling the ambulance once she heard the thud of his body hitting the floor?
Claire Meadows, 92, a retired piano teacher, reflects on her life, while waiting to be taken to a 102nd birthday party of a friend, a prolific writer of detective stories. She has baked a cake for him, as she has done for the last seventy years.
She looks back on her marriage to Bill as a happy time and remembers without bitterness her husband’s secret visits to women whose calling cards, complete with pictures of them in states of undress, were scattered in the bottom drawer of his desk.
As a young woman she nurtured two ambitions: to become a concert pianist and to have children. When the former became incompatible with her role of a supportive wife, she accepted the situation and looked forward to becoming a mother.
But month after month brought disappointment; her kind husband was sympathetic, always ready to offer a shoulder to cry on.
Years later, she discovered the reason why she was unable to fall pregnant. And it was nothing to do with her.
Released from the bonds of her marriage, and encouraged by her feisty friend Patricia, a single mother, with few inhibitions, Claire embarks on a series of sexual encounters. She even fulfils one of the dreams of her youth in a way she could never have imagined.
As she lies in bed, waiting to be taken to the party, Claire relives the details of her affairs with relish. She continues to harbour sexual fantasies and wonders whether there is someone who could still find her desirable.
Publisher: Salt Publishing
ISBN: 9781784633226
Number of pages: 176
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 13 mm
The Literary Fiction You Should Be Reading There’s a slight Mrs Dalloway-esque air to this slim novel, which spans the hours that pianist Claire spends waiting to attend the birthday party of her novelist friend, Martin … As her mind circles around her numerous lovers – and her ‘found family’ – she meditates on what makes for a life well-lived and re-evaluates her marriage: was it as happy as she is determined to believe? And was her husband’s death a stroke, or perhaps an accident that she had a hand in? - Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail
Claire’s voice is one we seldom hear from, that of an elderly woman – “people of her age are not written about; they are written off”; she is also unexpectedly preoccupied with sexual longing. This is a woman who still craves sexual connection and fulfilment. Waiting for a Party is surprising and refreshing in its graphic and detailed descriptions of these past encounters with various men. - Julia Kelly, The Irish Times
Claire Meadows, married for 30 years, now at the age of 92 looks back on her life after her husband died. It would appear that during her marriage there was little love between her loyal but equally boring husband. As... More
The character of this novel is the same age as my grandmother and we read our copies at the same time. I loved it as much as she did. What's more, the story, and its ending perked her up and these days when I see... More
I came across this book entirely by chance as someone else had ordered it - alas, not in stock - and was paying for it when I happened to be at the till buying another book. I was taken by the cover and then looked at... More
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