Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

210 Pages·2016·1.15 MB·English

by  Weber Katharine

Praise for OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book
“Katharine Weber delivers the goods: an unpredictable, unsentimental story
driven by characters who seem more alive than on the page.… The best novels
pack both an emotional and an intellectual wallop. Weber’s is one.”
—W L
ALLY AMB
“Engaging … Ms. Weber’s nuanced renderings of childhood traumas, of families
in crisis, and of Harriet’s grandmother are impressive.”
—New York Times Book Review
“A fine first novel … filled with hope and playfulness.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Weber has a gift for anchoring situation in time and place; for rapid shifts of
tone; for showing how the ordinary and the extraordinary commingle in our
experience.… She knows how treacherous the heart can be and also that it is our
only resource.”
—Boston Globe
“Katharine Weber, in her stunning first novel, might be a murder-mystery author,
so tight is her style.… A fascinating read.”
—M S
AY ARTON
“Wonderfully complex characters, witty prose, ironic situations, and tragic
consequences.… Weber’s control of language holds this cleverly touching book
together.”
—Charlotte Observer
“First novels are rarely this good. Katharine Weber has produced a work that
reveals an uncommon control of her craft and a mature understanding of human
character and motives.… A work that makes us want to turn the pages as fast as
we can to learn what will happen next to these original and interesting female
characters.”
—Kansas City Star
“Witty, bittersweet … A meticulously drawn cast of characters, keen irony, and a
flawless sense of place.”
—Plain Dealer
“Weber writes with captivating charm and an easy intelligence.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“A rock-solid novel, with impressive style and amazing detail.… More than just
a beguiling narrative; Weber steps into the looking glass and pulls the reader in
with her.”
—Providence Sunday Journal
“Tender and funny and sometimes jolting, this is a first novel of remarkable
accomplishment.… Weber’s sly and prickly wit, her delight in the farcical
aspects of the most tragic situations, and her sure sense of the rewards—and
limits—of feminine friendship cast a life-enhancing glow over the proceedings.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Compelling from the outset, due in large part to an enchantingly vulnerable,
articulate, clever, yet candid protagonist.”
—Booklist
Also by KATHARINE WEBER
The Memory of All That
True Confections
Triangle
The Little Women
The Music Lesson

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1995 by Katharine Weber
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Broadway Paperbacks, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a
division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Broadway Paperbacks and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House,
Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in slightly different form in the United States by Crown Publishers, an
imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1995, and
subsequently published in paperback by Picador USA, a division of St. Martin’s Press, New York, in 1996.
An excerpt from this book originally appeared in The New Yorker in January 1992.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for previously published material:
WHO CARES? (SO LONG AS YOU CARE FOR ME) (from “Of Thee I Sing”) Music and Lyrics by
GEORGE GERSHWIN and IRA GERSHWIN © 1931(Renewed) WB MUSIC CORP. All Rights Reserved.
Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.
CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS? Words by PAUL JAMES, Music by KAY SWIFT © 1929 (Renewed) WB
MUSIC CORP. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weber, Katharine.
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear / by Katharine Weber.
p. cm.
1. Americans—Travel—Switzerland—Geneva—Fiction. 2. Young women—Switzerland—Geneva—
Fiction. 3. Friendship—Switzerland—Geneva—Fiction. 4. Geneva (Switzerland)—Fiction. I. Title.
[PS3573.E2194025 1996]
813′.54—DC20 96-59
eISBN: 978-0-307-88750-4
Cover design by Elizabeth Ackerman
Cover photography: Ralph Gibson, “Bastienne,” from Infanta, © 1987
v3.1
For Nick
O.l.i.h.t.s.
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Part I
Geneva, July 3
July 4
July 9
July 13
July 17
July 19
Geneva, July 21
Part II
Next Door
Croup
The Project
Matching
The New Baby
Harriet the Spy
November 12
Part III
July 20
July 23
July 26
July 26
July 27
August 18
About the Author
Always there lurked the
fear that one’s own view
of truth was merely a
small window in a small
house.
—T W , The
HORNTON ILDER
Eighth Day