Cora's Turn

At age forty-five – her life a mess – Cora Gordon was persuaded to reinvent herself as an artist. Cora paid for her decision with agonies of self-doubt; but prodded by family and friends, she bent to her talents and found acceptance as a rising sculptor. Years later, now almost eighty – celebrated for her art and longevity – Cora is upset to learn that a troublemaker from her past has attacked the posthumous reputation of photographer Thorold Carey, a headstrong friend from her hardscrabble days. As she reflects on past struggles with the countering claims of art, love and loyalty – on the colleagues and relatives who regularly made life so hard – Cora feels more than ever grateful to Carey, for being there when she needed him – for his enduring inspiration. A vindication of her obstreperous friend, Cora’s is a wry tale of two mid-lives in disarray and of the circumstances that brought them together; lives seeming to have little in common – unlikely to benefit from second chances.