A Widow for One Year

1998 novel by John Irving A Widow for One Year First editionAuthorJohn IrvingLanguageEnglishPublisherRandom HousePublication dateMay 5, 1998Publication placeUnited StatesMedia typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)Pages537 (hardcover); 668 (paperback)ISBN0-375-50137-1OCLC37955786Dewey Decimal813/.54 21LC ClassPS3559.R8 W53 1998Preceded byA Son of the Circus Followed byThe Fourth Hand A Widow for One Year is a 1998 novel by American writer John Irving, the ninth of his novels to be published. The first third of the novel was adapted into the film The Door in the Floor in 2004. Plot The year is 1958 and Ruth Cole is 4 years old. Although she is a loved child, her parents do not have a happy marriage. Her two older brothers died several years earlier in a tragic accident, and she is constantly reminded of their presence by the pictures of the boys' childhood hanging on the walls of the Cole family home. Ruth's father, Ted Cole, is a successful writer and illustrator of books for children. He hires Eddie O'Hare, a teenager who attends Phillips Exeter Academy, the same school Ruth's two late brothers attended, to work as his assistant for the summer. Eddie is unwittingly drawn into a plot