The Hours

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTIONPASSIONATE, PROFOUND, AND DEEPLY MOVING, THE HOURS IS THE STORY OF THREE WOMEN: Clarissa Vaughan, who one New York morning goes about planning a party in honor of a beloved friend; Laura Brown, who in a 1950s Los Angeles suburb slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home; and Virginia Woolf, recuperating with her husband in a London suburb, and beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway. By the end of the novel, the stories have intertwined, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace, demonstrating Michael Cunningham's deep empathy for his characters as well as the extraordinary resonance of his prose."A smashing literary tour de force and an utterly invigorating reading experience. If this book does not make you jump up from the sofa, looking at life and literature in new ways, check to see if you have a pulse." -USA TODAY"An exquisitely written, kaleidoscopic work that anchors a floating postmodern world on premodern caissons of love, grief, and transcendent longing." -LOS ANGELES TIMES"Cunningham has created something original, a trio of richly interwoven tales... his most mature and masterful work." -THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLDMICHAEL CUNNINGHAM was raised in Los Angeles and lives in New York City. He is the author of the novels A Home at the End of the World (Picador USA) and Flesh and Blood.