Joan Williams (1) (1928–2004)

“The Morning and The Evening” by Joan Williams

I recently was rewarded when I reread this book that I’d owned for many years.

My Dell paperback copy of “The Morning and the Evening” cost just fifty cents in 1963. The cover tells us it had won the $10,000 John P. Marquand Novel Award, and quotes the N. Y. Times as calling it “Superb...exceptional...a complete success.”

When Atheneum published The Morning and the Evening in 1961, William Styron wrote, “It is a haunting and show more beautiful tale, richly infused with humor and sharp insights into the human predicament. Not the least of Miss Williams’ talents is her perfectly focused rendering of the Southern landscape, which comes through with the clear simplicity of Flaubert’s Normandy, and the sensuous feel of reality. A fine work.”

Joan Williams was recognized with a grant from the Institute of Arts and Letters in 1962.

I quote this information rather than giving a summary of the plot. It is a sad and credible account of small town life. Although his family and the community do not know how to help the 40-year-old mentally retarded man they do the best they can and we watch them with sympathy for him (and gratitude towards those that help him). show less