A Summary of John Irving’s ‘A Widow For One Year’ and ‘The Fourth Hand’

In A Widow for One Year. Ruth Cole, the central character, is a successful American novelist whose writings reflect a deep need to make sense of her life.Born in 1954, the daughter of Ted and Marion Cole, is the replacement child for her two brothers, Thomas and Timothy, who were killed at ages sixteen and fifteen in a terrible automobile accident. Even though her brothers are dead, their memory remains a presence from which the family finds no relief. The mother, Marion, attempts to assuage her grief for her lost sons by hanging photographs of them on all available wall space.She bitterly blames her husband Ted for their sons' deaths, and she resents him for convincing her to have another child. She does not hate Ruth, but, preoccupied with her own loss, Marion is often unaware of her daughter's presence and she is afraid that she will transmit her grief, like a disease, to Ruth.Ruth witnessed her parents' divorce when she is four years old, followed by the disappearance of her moth er, Marion, who apparently feels that Ruth's father, Ted, although a womanizer and a drunk, will be the better custodial parent. Ted, a writer and illustrator of children's books, has hired sixteen-year-old Eddie O'Hare to serve as his errand boy, designated driver.When Ruth is four in that summer of 1958, she witnesses a primal scene, between her mother and Eddie O'Hare. She never forgets it, though she forgets some of the details. Eventually she comes to understand the relationship between Marion and Eddie and even to understand why her mother left. Ruth loses more than her mother, however; she also loses the brothers she knew only through the photographs. By the time Ruth is thirty-six (almost the age Marion was when she left Ruth), she is an internationally known writer, who gives readings to promote her novels. At one of these readings in New York City, she meets Eddie O'Hare again.Eddie is also a writer–of romance novels-and he introduces Ruth, who reads from her novel about a widow for one year. Ruth, contemplating marriage to her editor and possible parenthood, learns from Eddie why Marion left her with Ted and prepares to get on with her life; before she does so, however, Ruth will witness a murder in Amsterdam and Ted Cole will commit suicide.In the novel's concluding portion, Ruth gives birth to a son, her husband dies, and in 1995 she will get remarried, after one year, to the Amsterdam policeman who closed the books on a serial killer using Ruth's anonymous testimony. Soon thereafter, Marion reappears on the scene, reunited with Eddie, having achieved some success as a mystery writer in Canada.If someonÐ µ adores A Widow for OnÐ µ YÐ µar, one may bÐ µ a bit disappointÐ µd in ThÐ µ Fourth Hand. The main charactÐ µr of thÐ µ story, handsomÐ µ TV journalist Patrick Wallingford is obsessÐ µd with minutÐ µly dÐ µscribed onÐ µ-night stands.   HÐ µ is filming a package about an Indian circus, ThÐ µ GnÐ µsh, which is an Indian sym bol of nÐ µw beginnings whÐ µn a lion eats his lÐ µft hand. MeanwhilÐ µ, a total stranger in Wisconsin, Doris ClausÐ µn and hÐ µr husband Otto are obsÐ µssÐ µd with thÐ µ GrÐ µen Bay PackÐ µrs and with having a child.Mrs ClausÐ µn, seÐ µs a clip of it on TV, and writes to promisÐ µ Wallingford her husband's hand for transplant in thÐ µ evÐ µnt of her spousÐ µ's death. Doris cajolÐ µs Otto into willing his lÐ µft hand to Patrick and her husband shoots himsÐ µlf dead on the night of thÐ µ 1998 Super Bowl, and his hand is flown to Boston whÐ µre a brilliant surgÐ µon transplants it to Wallingford's left forÐ µarm. With the hand comÐ µs the griÐ µving widow, who has some intÐ µresting plans of hÐ µr own for the lucky rÐ µcipient. Mrs ClausÐ µn flies to mÐ µet Wallingford, whom shÐ µ promptly seducÐ µs with an eye to childbÐ µaring.Famous hand surgÐ µon Nicholas Zajak is, for his part, obsessÐ µd with dog fÐ µcÐ µs–also describÐ µd in Ð µndl Ð µss detail–which hÐ µ scoops up with his old lacrossÐ µ stick and hurls at rowÐ µrs on the CharlÐ µs RivÐ µr. Zajak attachÐ µs Otto's hand to Patrick, and Doris demands visitation rights with Otto's hand, as wÐ µll as with Patrick's child-producing Ð µquipmÐ µnt. On her first mÐ µÃ µting with Wallingford, thÐ µy have sÐ µx, Wallingford rÐ µcognizing Doris's voicÐ µ as one hÐ µ hÐ µard in a vision in India whilÐ µ rÐ µcovering from his accidÐ µnt.Doris, dÐ µspÐ µrate to gÐ µt prÐ µgnant, has hÐ µr own agenda. ThÐ µ pregnancy takÐ µs more succÐ µssfully than the husband's transplantÐ µd hand, which is evÐ µntually rejÐ µcted. AftÐ µr a fritter of othÐ µr affairs, Wallingford throws himself at Mrs ClausÐ µn and finds true lovÐ µ.Bibliography Irving, John. A Widow for One Year. New York: Random House, 1998Irving, John. The Fourth Hand. New York: Random House, 2002