Skip to Main Content (Press Enter) Toggle side nav
Familiar Spirits by Alison Lurie
Add to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Familiar Spirits

A Memoir of James Merrill and David Jackson

By Alison Lurie

By Alison Lurie

Best Seller
Paperback $15.00

Feb 26, 2002 | ISBN 9780142000458

Familiar Spirits by Alison Lurie
Paperback $15.00
Feb 26, 2002 | ISBN 9780142000458

Buy from Other Retailers:

Paperback
–

  • Paperback $15.00

    Feb 26, 2002 | ISBN 9780142000458

    Buy from Other Retailers:

Buy the Paperback:

About Familiar Spirits

Alison Lurie, one of America’s greatest novelists, has written a loving memoir of world-famous poet James Merrill and his longtime partner David Jackson. Drawing on her forty-year friendship with Merrill and Jackson, Lurie reveals the couple’s deep involvement with ghosts, gods, and spirits, with whom they communicated through a Ouija board. Among the results of their intense twenty-year preoccupation with the occult is the brilliant book-length poem “The Changing Light at Sandover”, which Merrill called his “chronicles of love and loss.” Recalling Merrill and Jackson’s life together in New York, Athens, and Key West, Familiar Spirits is a poignant memoir infused with great affection and generous amounts of Lurie’s signature wit.

Also by Alison Lurie

Truth and Consequences
Foreign Affairs
Boys and Girls Forever
Women and Ghosts
See all books by Alison Lurie

About Alison Lurie

Alison Lurie is the author of many highly praised novels, including The War Between the Tates, The Truth About Lorin Jones (Prix Femina Etranger), and Foreign Affairs (Pulitzer Prize for fiction). She teaches writing, folklore, and literature at Cornell University.

Product Details

Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Literary Figure Biographies & Memoirs

Paperback | $15.00
Published by Penguin Books
Feb 26, 2002 | 192 Pages | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 | ISBN 9780142000458

Inspired by Your Browsing History

Buy other books like Familiar Spirits

‹ ›
In the Land of Pain
In the Land of Pain
Alphonse Daudet
The Possession
The Possession
Annie Ernaux
Decca
Decca
Jessica Mitford
Art and Madness
Art and Madness
Anne Roiphe
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Nigel Nicolson
When Memory Speaks
When Memory Speaks
Jill Ker Conway
Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Life in Letters
Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Life in Letters
Patrick Leigh Fermor
The Journals
The Journals
John Fowles
100 Voices
100 Voices
Scott McConnell
Fathers and Sons
Fathers and Sons
Alexander Waugh
Letters of James Agee to Father Flye
Letters of James Agee to Father Flye
James Agee
Under the Sun
Under the Sun
Bruce Chatwin
Room for Doubt
Room for Doubt
Wendy Lesser
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Morton N. Cohen
Hell Hath No Fury
Hell Hath No Fury
Charlotte Bronte, Anne Boleyn, Cindy Chupack and Anna Holmes
In Tearing Haste
In Tearing Haste
Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor
Henry James: Autobiographies (LOA #274)
Henry James: Autobiographies (LOA #274)
Henry James
Her Mother's Daughter
Her Mother’s Daughter
Linda Carroll
Violet to Vita
Violet to Vita
Shame and Wonder
Shame and Wonder
David Searcy
Kafka's Other Trial
Kafka’s Other Trial
Elias Canetti
College of One
College of One
Sheilah Graham
A Celtic Temperament
A Celtic Temperament
Robertson Davies
Love's Civil War
Love’s Civil War
I Ask the Impossible
I Ask the Impossible
Ana Castillo
Painted Shadow
Painted Shadow
Carole Seymour-Jones
Clinging to the Wreckage
Clinging to the Wreckage
John Mortimer
The Quest for Corvo
The Quest for Corvo
A.J.A. Symons
Unstuck in Time
Unstuck in Time
Gregory D. Sumner
I Promise to Be Good
I Promise to Be Good
Arthur Rimbaud
Henry James: The Mature Master
Henry James: The Mature Master
Sheldon M. Novick
Conversations with Wilde
Conversations with Wilde
Merlin Holland

Praise

“[A] remarkable and moving memoir.” —The Boston Globe

“Written with the poignancy of long affection.” —The Atlantic Monthly

“This memoir is Lurie’s own Ouija board, through which she shares one final, intimate conversation with her much-missed familiar spirits.” —The Washington Post

Looking for More Great Reads?
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
Get the latest updates from Alison Lurie
And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
By clicking SIGN UP, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Dismiss
Thanks!
Something awesome is on its way.
Back to Top

Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

Raise kids who love to read

Brightly

Raise kids who love to read
Today's Top Books

Today's Top Books

Want to know what people are actually reading right now?
An online magazine for today’s home cook

TASTE

An online magazine for today’s home cook