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About The House on Coliseum Street (Unabridged)

Grau’s provocative 1961 novel of a New Orleans woman’s heartbreaking decision, hailed as "a sad, wistful, young, timeless story, graced by this writer's finely drawn perceptions." Joan Mitchell has two suitors, and can’t decide whom to marry. With her mother Aurelie’s example in mind, she’d like to skip marriage altogether. Joan and Aurelie live together in a beautiful French Quarter home on Coliseum Street in New Orleans, along with Joan’s many half-sisters born of Aurelie’s five disastrous marriages. Joan lives a mostly carefree life, but when she becomes pregnant, she chooses to end her pregnancy rather than marry a man she doesn’t love - a decision with grave consequences in conservative 1950s New Orleans. The House on Coliseum Street is a brave, heartbreaking love letter to New Orleans, penned by one of the most acclaimed voices of the American South.