Colwin’s story collection Another Marvelous Thing was published in 1986, and the next year, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1990 she published Goodbye Without Leaving, the last novel that would go to press before her untimely death.
Laurie Colwin died of an aortic aneurysm in her Manhattan home on October 24, 1992, at the age of forty-eight. She was survived by her husband, Juris Jurjevics, a founder of Soho Press, and their daughter, Rosa.
In 1993 A Big Storm Knocked It Over and More Home Cooking were published posthumously, serving as final invocations of Colwin’s distinct voice and the New York characters she loved.
The author’s parents, Estelle Colwin (née Wolfson) and Peter Colwin.
The Wolfsons, Colwin’s mother’s family, lived in Philadelphia and congregated there for the holidays. Colwin (at front), her older sister, Leslie (at upper left), and their father, Peter, pose by a statue in Rittenhouse Square, Thanksgiving, c. 1950.
Colwin at age seven or eight. As a child and teen, she did print modeling work at her mother’s urging.
Colwin receiving an award at Ronkonkoma Grade School.
Colwin as a teenager. Childhood friend Willard Spiegelman, a writer and professor, recalls that Colwin often held “salons” in her bedroom.
By the time she was a teenager, Colwin had developed a keen interest in art. Here, she sketches with charcoal, obviously impressing her companion.
Colwin as a counselor at Camp Burr Oaks in Wisconsin. She had also attended as a camper in earlier years.
Colwin’s Cheltenham High School graduation photo, 1962.
After graduating from high school, Colwin traveled to Europe by boat. Her mother (at right), saw her off at the dock.
A rare moment as a dinner guest rather than host.
Cats and fancy dinnerware were two of Colwin’s favorite things. Chloe, her beloved Maine coon, sits atop a shelf that displays some of Colwin’s prized pieces.
These objects, sketched by Colwin herself, were prominent fixtures on her desk for years and years. Several, including the Callard & Bowser tin of pencils, patterned cup and saucer, and champagne lamp base, remain family treasures.
Colwin used her wit not only in her writing, but also in her drawings and paintings. Here, “MacLehose” refers to publisher Christopher MacLehose, who was a friend of Colwin and her husband, Juris Jurjevics.
Colwin was known for making her own baby food for her daughter, Rosa, pictured here in 1985.
For many years Colwin and her husband lived in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, where their daughter was born and raised.
As a writer, Colwin was able to leave office life behind and become a work-from-home mom. Ice-skating with her daughter, Rosa, age six in this photograph, was a favorite winter activity.
A soup recipe Colwin created for Rosa.
This gingerbread recipe was “a hit” according to Colwin—words of high praise she used throughout her food writing.
A crowd-pleaser from More Home Cooking.
Colwin loved to tinker with baking recipes and routinely combined elements and flavors not cited in the original versions.
Summer food delighted Colwin, and she loved to eat outside, especially in the evening.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Laurie Colwin wishes to thank the National Endowment for the Arts for its generous support.
“Frank and Billy” and “French Movie” originally appeared in Cosmopolitan. “A Little Something” originally appeared in New Woman. “Another Marvelous Thing,” “A Country Wedding,” “A Couple of Old Flames” (originally entitled “Old Flames”), and “Swan Song” originally appeared in The New Yorker. “My Mistress” originally appeared in Playboy.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc., for permission to reprint an excerpt from “Falling in Love Is Never as Simple” by Randall Jarrell from The Complete Poems by Randall Jarrell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.
Copyright © 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 by Laurie Colwin
Cover design by Mimi Bark
ISBN: 978-1-4976-7378-6
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Another Marvelous Thing Page 13
