Rarely has a marriage so come alive in a work of fiction. . . So intense, beautifully written, shining with 'felt life,' it is truly gripping - riveting." - Joyce Carol Oates Abigail McCormick and Ray Stark are both poets, married nearly twenty-five years in what has always been a passionate relationship, despite their deep class differences. Ray is the son of West Virginia coal miners and was abused as a child - but now he is a distinguished poet with a part-time position at Brown. Abby grew up in San Francisco's posh Pacific Heights and, having abandoned poetry, she spends her energy on a new teaching position at UC Berkeley. Abby's decision to accept the postand the required cross-country marriage sets the stage for Ray to stray, especially as he struggles with a heart condition. He's tortured by his affair with the graduate student he's fallen in love with, but is determined to stay married - he fights to get over Tory for years. A despairing Abby finds solace in her return to riding horses and writing poems, but as she suffers privately, she becomes dependent on sleeping pills and alcohol. Ray's health worsens - proves nearly fatal - and another cross-country move threatens to push them further apart. Alternating seamlessly between Ray's and Abby's perspectives, The Use of Fame is a gripping exploration of how closeness and despair can warp a lover's perception." | The Use Of Fame by Cornelia Nixon, Paperback | Indigo Chapters