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The Precipice

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The Precipice

By: Hugh MacLennan
Narrated by: Tara Koehler
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About this listen

The Precipice is the sweeping story of Lucy Cameron, a young woman who seems destined to live and die in small-town Ontario. Into this place of monotony and petty incidents, of spiteful gossip and rigid moralism, appears Stephen Lassiter. Stephen is a Princeton-educated engineer from a wealthy New York family and Lucy's antithesis. Despite the chasm of their differences, they fall in love, marry, and begin life together in New York during the distressing years of the Second World War. It is a life that will nearly break Lucy in heart and spirit, however, as her husband faces disillusionment in his job and boredom in the serenity of his home life. While Stephen looks for excitement and approval elsewhere, Lucy must fight to retain her poise and dignity in order to survive. With its sustained contrast between the crushing deadness of small-town life and the glittering artificiality of New York City, MacLennan’s third novel revealed a new level of maturity when it first appeared in 1948. A classic now available in audio, with an introduction by renowned scholar and MacLennan biographer Elspeth Cameron, this timeless story portrays characters with a realism and fascination that is as rare as it is effective.

©2013 Hugh MacLennan (P)2023 McGill-Queen’s University Press Canadian Classics World Literature New York Heartfelt

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this is a love story of a lady brought up puritan small down Canada spanning the war years. there are some great passages of writing with perceptive observations and vivid descriptions. the love is between two chapters quirky enough and we'll drawn enough to have some originality. however it was all just a little bit boring, a little but soap opera. I wanted to find what the ending held; but it was hard work getting there.

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