Books Tell You Why, Inc.

First edition/first printing in Near Fine condition in alike lightly soiled dust-jacket.

In The Fermata, Baker and Nicholson take on one of the most difficult and demanding of all writing tasks: telling a story in which time passes but the characters do not. The novel's narrator, an unnamed author, is sitting in a room in an unnamed European city, writing a story. He has been sitting in the same spot, at the same desk, for days on end. Outside the window, the city bustles with people and traffic. Inside the room, the only sound is the author's pen scratching paper.

The author begins to feel a sense of madness creeping over him, and he wonders if he is truly alone in the room. Then, one afternoon, he sees a woman walk by the window. She is beautiful, and for a moment the author is captivated by her appearance. But then the woman turns away and the author realizes that he has been hallucinating.

The author is relieved, but he begins to worry about the state of; 8vo; FSA.