7.6 /10 1 Votes7.6
Language English Originally published 1961 Genre Novel Country United States of America | 3.8/5 Goodreads Publication date 1961 Publisher Little, Brown and Company | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Similar Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners, Novels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Edge of Sadness is a novel by the American author Edwin O'Connor. It was published in 1961 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1962. The story is about a middle-aged Catholic priest in New England.
Story
This drama revolves around Father Hugh Kennedy, who is a recovering alcoholic. in the beginning of the story Kennedy has returned to his home town (an unnamed New England seaport city that is the seat of a bishop rather than an archbishop; it thus most closely corresponds with O'Connor's own birthplace of Providence, RI) to try to mend his professional career as a priest. He becomes involved again with the Carmodys, a wealthy family whose ancestry, like his own, is Irish, and whom he has known since childhood. The story that unfolds is a tale of long hidden emotion and longing. It deals with friendship and loneliness, spirituality and newfound hope.