From royalties received from The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Wilder built a house for his family in 1930 in Hamden, Connecticut, just outside New Haven. But he typically spent as many as two hundred days a year away from Hamden, traveling to and settling in a variety of places that provided the stimulation and solitude he needed for his work. Sometimes his destination was the Arizona desert, the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, or Martha’s Vineyard, Newport, Saratoga Springs, Vienna, or Baden-Baden. He wrote aboard ships, and often chose to stay in “spas in off-season.” He needed a certain refuge when he was deeply immersed in writing a novel or play. Wilder explained his habit to a New Yorker journalist in 1959: “The walks, the quiet—all the elegance is present, everything is there but the people. That’s it! A spa in off-season! I make a practice of it.”

But Wilder always returned to “the house The Bridge built,” as it is still known to this day. He died there of a heart attack on December 7, 1975.

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Harper Perennial is Proud to Present THE WORKS OF THORNTON WILDER

NOVELS

THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY A Novel

Available in Paperback and eBook

“One merely has to consider the central question raised by the novel, which, according to Wilder himself, was simply: ‘Is there a direction and meaning in the lives beyond the individual’s own will?’ It is perhaps the largest and most profoundly personal philosophical inquiry that we can undertake. It is the question that defines us as human beings.” —Russell Banks, foreword to The Bridge of San Luis Rey

THE CABALA AND THE WOMAN OF ANDROS Two Novels

Available in Paperback and eBook

“No matter where and when Wilder’s novels take place, his characters grapple with universal questions about the nature of human existence.” —Penelope Niven, author of Thornton Wilder

THE EIGHTH DAY A Novel

Available in Paperback and eBook

“We marvel at a novel of such spiritual ambition.” —John Updike, foreword to The Eighth Day

HEAVEN’S MY DESTINATION A Novel

Available in Paperback and eBook

“If John Steinbeck’s mighty The Grapes of Wrath is the tragic novel of the Great Depression, then Heaven’s My Destination is its comic masterpiece.” —J.D. McClatchy, foreword to Heaven’s My Destination

THE IDES OF MARCH A Novel

Available in Paperback and eBook

“In my opinion, the calmest . . . [most] playful and avuncular American storyteller of the twentieth century.” —Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., foreword to The Ides of March

THEOPHILUS NORTH A Novel

Available in Paperback and eBook

“It brims with delight, wit, prodigious learning . . . and, yes, what a lot of lovely girls are in it.” —Christopher Buckley, foreword to Theophilus North

PLAYS

OUR TOWN A Play in Three Acts

Available in Paperback and eBook

“Our Town is probably the finest play ever written by an American.” —Edward Albee

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH A Play