The Perennial Bachelor

The Campion family of Delaware is living a genteel existence, even after the sudden, unexpected death of the family patriarch. When the family's first son, Victor, is born, he's doted on by his mother and three sisters. But as the days turn to decades the family's devotion to Victor, and their hopes that he'll be the key to their entrance into Gilded Age society, robs them of their own chances for happiness. Victor grows into a man of charm and social promise but little real urgency, drifting through opportunities and relationships while remaining the unquestioned center of the household. In the end, the Campions are left to confront the consequences of a life organized around possibility rather than fulfillment. The Perennial Bachelor is Anne Parrish's most acclaimed novel. It won the Harper Novel Prize in 1925, and was one of the top ten most popular books of the year. Anne Parrish (died 1957) was an influential writer of the modernist period. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, The Perennial Bachelor exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.