Fear of Dying (26 page)

ERICA JONG
is a poet, novelist, and essayist, best known for her eight
New York Times
bestselling novels, including
Fear of Flying
(which has sold 27 million copies in forty languages) and
Fear of Fifty
. Ms. Jong is also the author of seven award-winning collections of poetry. Her latest,
Love Comes First
, was released by Tarcher-Penguin in January 2009. In addition, Jong has written several nonfiction books. Her work has appeared all over the world. Visit
www.ericajong.com
or sign up for email updates
here
.

    

 

ALSO BY
ERICA JONG

FICTION

Fear of Dying

Sappho's Leap

Inventing Memory

Any Woman's Blues

Shylock's Daughter

Parachutes & Kisses

Fanny: Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones

How to Save Your Own Life

Fear of Flying

POETRY

Love Comes First

Becoming Light: New and Selected

Ordinary Miracles

At the Edge of the Body

Loveroot

Half-Lives

Fruits & Vegetables

OTHER WORKS

A Letter to the President

Sugar in My Bowl: Real Women Write About Real Sex

Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life

What Do Women Want? Bread Roses Sex Power

Fear of Fifty: A Mid-Life Memoir

The Devil at Large: Erica Jong on Henry Miller

Megan's Book of Divorce

Megan's Two Houses

Witches

 

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CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Epigraph

Part I: Fall

1. Happily Married Woman, or Is There Sex After Death?

2. My Father (Boy Wanted)

3. Wondermans Rampant

4. Heartbeat

Part II: Winter

5. Money Is the Root

6. A Human Being

7. Loving Mr. Bones

8. Grief, Loss, Ex-wives, Dogs

9. Age Rage

10. Old Dogs

11. More, More, More

Part III: Spring

12. Grandmothering

13. Wormhole

14. A Language Beyond Language

15. Tender the Dead

Part IV: Summer

16. Bollywood in Goa

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Erica Jong

Copyright

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

FEAR OF DYING.
Copyright © 2015 by Erica Mann Jong. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Olga Grlic

Cover image © gst/Shutterstock

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Jong, Erica.

       Fear of dying / Erica Jong. — First edition.

           pages; cm

       ISBN 978-1-250-06591-9 (hardcover)

       ISBN 978-1-4668-7290-5 (e-book)

       1.  Psychological fiction.   I.  Title.

       PS3560.O56F42 2015

       813'.54—dc23

2015017627

e-ISBN 9781466872905

Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
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.

First Edition: September 2015