Mrs. Ted Bliss

Book excerpt: National Book Critics Circle Award Winner: This funny, poignant novel about the misadventures of a Miami Beach widow is “brilliant” (Los Angeles Times). After her beloved husband dies of cancer, Dorothy Bliss is consigned to a life of tedium, waiting out her remaining years in a Miami beachside community shared precariously by its Jewish and Latino residents. When Dorothy attends a series of parties intended to lighten the community’s racial tensions, she is unwittingly pulled into a world of drug smuggling, con artistry, and underground gambling—and a series of adventures that will renew her passion for life. At once heartfelt and hilarious, Mrs. Ted Bliss is a captivating novel of an ordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances, reconciling the regrets of her past and rediscovering adventure in the twilight of her life. This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.