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Larry Lockridge
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Out of Wedlock (The Enigma Quartet) Paperback – July 18, 2022

by Larry Lockridge (Author), Marcia Scanlon (Illustrator)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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In OUT OF WEDLOCK, Jess Freeman, a facial plastic surgeon who refashions the identities of others, knows little of his own identity. Who are his biological parents and could they be the source of his sudden trances, when he drifts off into visionary worlds, by turns radiant and nightmarish? Reality checks-quick bops on the head-are administered by his nurse during delicate surgeries. But fumbling Jess pulls off a superb makeover of a severely injured patient, with a stunning sequel.


Set in Greenwich Village and Santa Fe from 1989 to 2008, Jess's romantic misadventures echo perils of the heart endured in the days of Edna St. Vincent Millay and D. H. Lawrence, the sexual revolution of the sixties and seventies, and today's hookup culture. But Jess and his close companions more than endure; whatever their fates, they are sustained by a group loyalty anchored in pluck, buoyancy, and affection. This is a novel of charmed human acts-from feasting and parading to sailing and dancing to yearning and loving to seeking roots and chasing jackrabbits. All these are brought within a brisk narrative of startling recognitions that prove transformative for Jess Freeman and his intimates.


"I read Out of Wedlock at one go, sitting down in the morning to give it a try and not getting up until early evening, when, with a deep sigh of satisfaction, I read the final line. With a plot as screwy as its characters, it charges ahead with manic energy. With all the fun you're having, you may not be prepared for how deeply Out of Wedlock will end up moving you. Lockridge is our Voltaire and Out of Wedlock is his Candide."Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of The Mind-Body Problem, Betraying Spinoza, and Plato at the Googleplex; MacArthur Fellowship, National Humanities Medal


Previous page
  1. Part of series
    The Enigma Quartet
  2. Print length
    196 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Iguana Books
  5. Publication date
    July 18, 2022
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.45 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1771805633
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1771805636
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

LARRY LOCKRIDGE is a writer living in New York City. Professor Emeritus of English, New York University, and a Guggenheim Fellow, he is best known for "Shade of the Raintree: The Life and Death of Ross Lockridge, Jr.," the prizewinning biography of his father, author of "Raintree County." "Out of Wedlock" is the third of four standalone yet interrelated novels, "The Enigma Quartet," to be published by Iguana Books.

MARCIA SCANLON, painter, sculptor, and poet, has studios in Soho and upstate New York. She has been represented by John Stoller, Gettler-Paul, Maxwell Davidson, and Central Booking. Her artwork is in personal, corporate, library, and museum collections here and abroad. Recent imagery in drawing, watercolor, and sculpture draws on the works of Sappho, Baudelaire, Mendeleev, and Joyce.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Iguana Books (July 18, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1771805633
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1771805636
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.45 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

About the author

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Larry Lockridge

Larry Lockridge

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I am a writer living in New York City. In 2016 I retired from NYU, where I'd taught in the Department of English for many years, and have now embarked on a new career as novelist. Previously I was best-known for a prize-winning biography of my father, "Shade of the Raintree: The Life and Death of Ross Lockridge, Jr." (Viking 1994; Indiana Univ. Press, 2014). Ross Lockridge, Jr. wrote the best-selling novel "Raintree County," an unabashed attempt at the Great American Novel. It was much acclaimed in early 1948 but its author died a suicide only two months following publication. I was five years old at the time. This wasn't much of an incentive for me ever to write novels of my own.

I am belatedly publishing four standalone yet interrelated novels, "The Enigma Quartet," with Iguana Books, Toronto over the next two years. "The Cardiff Giant" was published on January 11, 2021 and "The Great Cyprus Think Tank" on October 4, 2021. "Out of Wedlock" will be published in July, 2022 and "The Woman in Green" on January 5, 2023. The latter date marks exactly the 75th anniversary of the publication of "Raintree County," to which "The Woman in Green" is indirectly an homage.

These novels aren't attempts at the Great American Novel, lord knows, but they aspire to human significance and ethical depth within the magical circus of metaphysical farce. I call them "metafarcical." At the least I hope they are funny. Unlike "Raintree County," they also have the virtue of being short. My novels are enhanced by the artwork of Marcia Scanlon, who has created cover designs and illustrative drawings for each of the four, described by one reviewer as "irresistible renderings." Though satirical, the novels are affirmative in the end. Malachy McCourt writes of "The Cardiff Giant": "a pungent satire of human gullibility, this fierce, upbeat novel is a timely restorative in a dark season." Takis Kayalis writes of "The Great Cyprus Think Tank" that "to grasp Cyprus in its essence both mythic and real, hurry up and join Bart Beasley's fantastic expedition, as told in this priceless novel by master storyteller Larry Lockridge." And Maureen McLane writes: "Mindful of all kinds of disaster, this is a novel of deep comedy, energy, and chastened joy. I strongly advise you to ride out any tsunami on the backs of Lockridge's sea turtles." www.LarryLockridge.com

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
9 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Enid Stubin
5.0 out of 5 stars High-hearted Comedy of Manners
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2023
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OUT OF WEDLOCK, the third volume of The Enigma Quartet, appears cometlike to brighten our midwinter gloom.

Larry Lockridge's delightful satire on contemporary mores plumbs the seductive chasm between appearance and reality, nature and nurture, certitude and doubt. Its endearing protagonist, Jess Freeman, is a plastic surgeon who operates at the margins of human vanity, questions a dizzying roundelay of erotic possibilities, and in the process finds acceptance and affirmation. Marcia Scanlon's buoyant drawings translate key moments in the narrative with verve and charm.

The delicious book holds so many delights: the author's bravura wit and generous wisdom fuel a high-hearted, poignant comedy of manners.

Treat yourselves!
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dustin g.
5.0 out of 5 stars Kicking Nature out of doors -- don't try it at home
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
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"Out of Wedlock is gender-bending and genre-bending. It has lots of fun with the currently trendy idea of reinventing yourself and with various ways of trying to remake nature. Who was it who said you can kick Nature out of doors, but it insists on coming back in through the window? Not just two weddings, as is common in Shakespearean comedy, but four as in As You Like It. It required a lot of careful plotting by the hidden hand of a comic novelist to make this work. What's most interesting is that one of the couplings is not a wedding, but a post-sexual household of adopted children from all around the world. Talk about fantasies! I loved the riffs on fusion food, which Lockridge tops with the introduction of fission food. Coming soon to your favorite restaurant. After all the complications and misadventures, Out of Wedlock has a dry, bright, and sunny comic conclusion."
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Martin Bidney
5.0 out of 5 stars Conveys a mentality wise and refreshing
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2022
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What I liked best about the book is also what most refreshed my thinking, namely the author’s skill in combining complete freedom of spirit with empathetic attraction to people coping with problems. The main thought Larry Lockridge’s book leaves us to ponder is that even a life-guiding decision which seems the most important one has ever made, and which further developments have justified and vindicated, may, later in the decider’s life, need to be radically reversed – and that this reversal, too, may prove essential, correct, and satisfying in the new time and new place. Everything, always, is open to question. The great gift of this delightfully amusing, maturely thoughtful book is a mood of liberation, open-heartedness, calm, and laughter.
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Jane Austen
5.0 out of 5 stars Rollicking yet profound
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2022
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Out of Wedlock, the third novel in the Enigma Quartet by Larry Lockridge, delivers again. Jess, our hero, is a rather unexceptional plastic surgeon who incidentally suffers trances often while he performs surgery. The deadpan description of this sort of event is pure Lockridgian wit. A Pygmalion-like transformation of a patient from a ‘horse-face” woman to a “celebrity model “launches the events that follow and a series of hilarious coincidences ensue. Eccentric characters join his journey and become a supportive, if intrusive, posse. Each in his own way is searching for identity. The plot is engrossing with surprising twists that lead to an unforeseen revelation . Adding to the fun are the accomplished drawings by Marcia Scanlon, whose wry illustrations perfectly complement the story.
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E. S
5.0 out of 5 stars Lively!
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2022
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A spirited, lively read with illustrations to match!
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Boney Fish 52
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great read!
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2022
Lockridge has done it again. The third novel of the Enigma Quartet, Out of Wedlock, follows the circuitous paths of four “modern couples” as they wend their way through the perils of love in a time of digital mediation, sexual adventurism, and self re-invention. The characters are all searching for some authenticity of self until, after false starts and misadventures, by turns hilarious, absurd, and touching, they find their way to love, loyalty, and community. This is a satirical work but of the most generous, gentle kind, as exemplified in the self-effacing protagonist, Jess Freeman, the Pygmalion of the story. One of the continuous pleasures of Lockridge’s fiction is its rich, allusive texture, drawing on the literary realm, to be sure, but also the philosophical, psychological, botanical, historical, culinary, and musical—all woven effortlessly into the fabric of his narrative. Dialogue, crisp and witty, dominates the pages. I found myself laughing out loud. We follow the characters from Greenwich Village to New Mexico, from the macabre dance of the Ghost of Tom in Washington Square to the exuberant conflagration of Zozobra in Santa Fe. Not least of its charms, the novel is something of a love-song to the Village itself, both past and present, revealing the author’s mastery at evoking a sense of place. Scanlon’s drawings capture perfectly both the tone and key moments of the story. I found this a beautiful book.
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pat in ny
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2023
A fun, eccentric, warmhearted, and philosophical book that was so entertaining to read. Thank you Larry Lockridge!!!
One person found this helpful
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5sequoias
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and Profound
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2022
I couldn't wait for this third installment of Lockridge's Enigma Quartet, and I was right -- it's a hectic sexual exploration that ends up affirming all we could hope for ourselves as individual human beings in a battering world. It skirts offensive stereotypes to ridicule them, while its antic language play and hilarious gender musical chairs culminate in a definition of personal identity that actually works, regardless of the demands dogma and cultural fads make on us. Like the other two volumes, it's wacky and compassionate, slapstick and philosophical, and most of all humane. Now I can't wait for the fourth volume!
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