The Wapshot Chronicle

When "The Wapshot Chronicle" was published in 1957, John Cheever was already recognized as a writer of superb short stories. But "The Wapshot Chronicle, " which won the 1958 National Book Award, established him as a major novelist. Based in part on Cheever's adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village. Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son, Moses; and of Moses' adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, "The Wapshot Chronicle" is a family narrative in the tradition of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.