Empress of the Splendid Season (A Novel)
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$18.99
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Product Details
Author:
Oscar Hijuelos, Elizabeth Strout
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
336
Publisher:
Grand Central Publishing (October 14, 2025)
Imprint:
Grand Central Publishing
Language:
English
Audience:
General/trade
ISBN-13:
9781538722213
ISBN-10:
1538722216
Weight:
10.08oz
Dimensions:
5.25" x 8" x 0.8438"
File:
hbgusa-hbgusa_onix30_P9292462_10272025-20251027-1.xml
Folder:
hbgusa
List Price:
$18.99
Country of Origin:
United States
Pub Discount:
65
Case Pack:
20
As low as:
$14.62
Publisher Identifier:
P-HACH
Discount Code:
A
Overview
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos brings the joys and heartbreaks of twentieth-century America vividly to life in this "tender" novel (New York Times Book Review).
Lydia España—once a wealthy, spoiled daughter of Cuba—works at a sewing factory in New York. Adjusting to her sharp change of circumstances, missing the days when her prosperous father provided her with every luxury, she ruminates on the incident that drove her away from her homeland in the late 1940s—until she falls in love with Raul, a kindhearted, working-class waiter who sees Lydia as the “Queen of the Congo Line” she used to be: the empress of "the most beautiful and splendid season, which is love.”
Despite their age difference, a loving marriage follows, as well as two children. Lydia revels in her newfound happiness, but when Raul’s health declines, she finds her fortunes reversed yet again. Now working as a cleaning lady, Lydia can’t help but contrast her experiences with those of her clients, whose secret lives and day-to-day realities are so starkly different from her own—but over time, the role may prove to be just what she needs to secure a better life for her children.
Written with absorbing, magnetic prose, this tenderly rendered novel follows a proud, hardworking woman through the ups and downs of her life. It is Hijuelos at his masterful best, a lasting and expert portrayal of the highs and lows of chasing—and living—the “American Dream.”
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
Lydia España—once a wealthy, spoiled daughter of Cuba—works at a sewing factory in New York. Adjusting to her sharp change of circumstances, missing the days when her prosperous father provided her with every luxury, she ruminates on the incident that drove her away from her homeland in the late 1940s—until she falls in love with Raul, a kindhearted, working-class waiter who sees Lydia as the “Queen of the Congo Line” she used to be: the empress of "the most beautiful and splendid season, which is love.”
Despite their age difference, a loving marriage follows, as well as two children. Lydia revels in her newfound happiness, but when Raul’s health declines, she finds her fortunes reversed yet again. Now working as a cleaning lady, Lydia can’t help but contrast her experiences with those of her clients, whose secret lives and day-to-day realities are so starkly different from her own—but over time, the role may prove to be just what she needs to secure a better life for her children.
Written with absorbing, magnetic prose, this tenderly rendered novel follows a proud, hardworking woman through the ups and downs of her life. It is Hijuelos at his masterful best, a lasting and expert portrayal of the highs and lows of chasing—and living—the “American Dream.”
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
