Pulitzer Prize Fiction Winner

A Summons to Memphis

by Peter Taylor

Summary

An elderly man is summoned back to his family home in Memphis to prevent his octogenarian father from remarrying, leading to a quiet reckoning with family resentments.

Historical Context & Significance

Taylor was a master of "The Southern Gentility" story; this win late in his life was seen as a tribute to his career-long focus on the domestic tensions of the upper-class South.