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 perceptionsJoan 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 lovea 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. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Shirley Ann Grau, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author's personal collection.

Shirley Ann Grau (b. 1929) is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist of nine novels and short story collections, whose work is set primarily in her native South. Grau was raised in Alabama and Louisiana, and many of her novels document the broad social changes of the Deep South during the twentieth century, particularly as they affected African Americans. Grau’s first novel,The Hard Blue Sky(1958), about the descendants of European pioneers living on an island off the coast of Louisiana, established her as a master of vivid description, both for characters and locale,a style she maintained throughout her career. Her public profile rose during the civil rights movement, when her dynastic novelKeepers of the House(1964), which dealt with race relations in Alabama, earned her a Pulitzer Prize.