Mrs. Bridge.

CONNELL JR., Evan S.

Item Number: 1801

New York: The Viking Press, 1959.

First edition of the author’s first novel. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in a contemporary hand, “For Don Thackrey with best wishes, Evan Connell.” Small name to the front free endpaper, near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a few small closed tears. A very sharp example.

The skilled satire and dark implications of Mrs. Bridge earned Connell praise as "a writer of fine style and amazing variety" (Esquire). Its appreciation contributed to Connell's later nomination for the Man Booker International Prize and in 2010 his acceptance of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Along with its companion novel, Mr. Bridge (1969), Mrs. Bridge inspired the 1990 Merchant/Ivory film Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and it won Best Screenplay and Best Actress at the 1990 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.