The Son

The haunting story of a woman who desires “something more, as if something more had been promised her that was not yet given.”

Vivian Carpentier, confined by her role as an upper class woman in the 1940s, gleans meaning only from erotic love. Troubled by the elusiveness of men, yet convinced that they run the world, she can barely conceal her desperation to entice. Struggling with motherhood and the failure of marriage, she takes jobs to bridge intervals between lovers. She sings in a hotel bar, sells dresses, and nurses her father’s friend through his last illness, hoping to atone for a self-centered life. The constant in Vivian’s life is her son, David. Having seen her worst and best moments, he provides her with consolation and a reason for living.

Gina Berriault was the author of four novels, three earlier short story collections, and several screenplays. One of the most celebrated short story writers in her lifetime, she was the recipient of multiple prestigious awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Rea Award for the Short Story, and a Commonwealth Gold Medal for Literature. She died in 1999.

Leonard Gardner is a novelist and screenwriter. His novel Fat City was made into a film by John Huston and is recognized as a classic American novel. He lived with Gina Berriault for many years.

Jane Vandenburgh's most recent book is Architecture of the Novel. She is also the author of two novels, Failure to Zigzag and The Physics of Sunset, and a memoir, A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century. She lives in Point Richmond, California.