190,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Come visit us in-store this weekend! 📚 Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

The Wapshot Chronicle

3.75 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 7,605 ratings, 495 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Meet the Wapshots of St Botolphs: Captain Leander Wapshot, a venerable sea-dog grappling with despair; his licentious elder son, Moses; and the adoring, wayward younger brother, Coverly. The Wapshot Chronicle is a vivid family narrative brimming with tragedy and humour, richly picaresque and partly drawn from Cheever's New England adolescence, evoking the spirit of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3200
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers who enjoy classic family sagas, literary fiction, and stories that combine wit with emotional complexity, especially those fond of authors like Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Meet the Wapshots of St Botolphs. and Moses's adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, and partly based on Cheever's adolescence in New England, The Wapshot Chronicle is a family narrative in the finest traditions of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James

The first novel John Cheever wrote is a wonderful introduction to his writing; clever, funny, charming and bursting with life

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The first novel John Cheever wrote is a wonderful introduction to his writing; clever, funny, charming and bursting with life.

Meet the Wapshots of St Botolphs. There is Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea-dog and would-be suicide; his licentious older son, Moses; and Moses's adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, and partly based on Cheever's adolescence in New England, The Wapshot Chronicle is a family narrative in the finest traditions of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Cheever's debut novel is celebrated for its lively, inventive prose and emotional depth. Critics praise its rich tapestry of comedy, tragedy, and irony, making it an engaging and memorable read. Highlights include acclaim from The Guardian, New York Times Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and Time.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099275275

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 November 1998

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 23.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 244g

Pages: 336

About the Author

John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912, and he went to school at Thayer Academy in South Braintree. He is the author of seven collections of stories and five novels. His first novel, The Wapshot Chronicle, won the 1958 National Book Award. In 1965 he received the Howells Medal for Fiction from the National Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1978 he won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Shortly before his death in 1982 he was awarded the National Medal for Literature.

Also by John Cheever

View all
  • A Vision of the World
    The first authorised selected collection of the twentieth-century's most influential short story writer. Selected and introduced by Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes Reading Cheever is a restless pleasure, the work never settles—these brilliant stories make me get up and walk around the room — Anne Enright John Cheever, the "Chekhov of the suburbs," forever altered the landscape of contemporary literature....
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Letters of John Cheever
    A writer of grace and wit, quietly dealing with people, like himself, who sense that their seemly, well-respected lives are being lived upon a precipice - Sunday Times With an introduction by Jay McInerney The Letters of John Cheever offer a tantalising glimpse into the life of a writer. They include correspondence with his contemporaries, such as Philip Roth, John...
    Paperback
    $3700
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Oh What A Paradise It Seems
    A delight to read – Evening Standard In an idyllic American village, elderly romantic Lemuel Sears still has it in him to fall wildly in love with strangers of both sexes. But Sears's paradise is under threat; the pond he loves is being fouled by unscrupulous polluters involved in organised crime. Can Sears thwart the monstrous aspects of late-twentieth-century civilisation...
    Paperback
    $2999
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

More from Romance

View all
  • A Crimson Ridge Christmas
    New Release
    A Crimson Ridge Christmas
    A Crimson Ridge Christmas is a collection of two steamy, holiday cowboy romance novellas that conclude the forbidden-love Crimson Ridge series by internationally bestselling author Elliott Rose. Experience two taboo relationships, navigate the aftermath of two cheating exes, indulge in one drunken three-way, and meet a hot dad caught in a snowstorm. There are just enough sexy cowboys in ugly...
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Grim Tidings
    New Release
    Grim Tidings
    'Infinity stars. I smiled, laughed, squealed with delight, wept, and then smiled again' ★★★★★'This book ripped my heart out, trampled on it, put it back together, and still had amazing smut' ★★★★★'Fun, witty, sexy and made me cry at the end (in a good way, don't worry)…B.K. Borison has written one of my favourite reads of the year' ★★★★★ A...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2899
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates
    A hilarious, swoony and downright terrifying horror romance in which a cinephile gets caught in the middle of a murder spree at a speed-dating event and must use her encyclopedic knowledge of the rom-com and horror genres to make it as a real-life Final Girl. When cinephile Jamie Prescott attends a speed-dating event, she expects to meet some mediocre men...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Wild Wicked Mate
    New Release
    Wild Wicked Mate
    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurie Gilmore, comes a brand new small-town romance set in the quirky town of Maple Hollow! The closer the proximity, the stronger the spark… Phoebe never expected to fall in love, and especially not with the annoyingly handsome werewolf she’s been hanging out with for years.Theo has spent his life comparing himself to...
    Paperback
    $2199
    Elsewhere:
    $2699
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    The Keeper
    He can resist any woman in the world...except for the one he shouldn't want. Famed goalkeeper Noah Wilson doesn't do relationships or complications. The only thing the grumpy single dad wants is to do his job and spend more time with his daughter. Unfortunately, his bachelor status has made it impossible to find the right nanny for her. With the...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • My Dreadful Darling
    New Release
    My Dreadful Darling
    My darling, it is you who is dreadful. Reverie Adams has only one goal in life: to keep her head above water with her father's sinister legacy weighing on her shoulders. But she's no stranger to drowning—it is her very first memory, after all, and if her demons have their way, it will also be her last. Even with the...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Fever Dream
    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Elsie Silver comes a small-town, forbidden, rivals-to-lovers romance, the first book in the brand-new Western romance series Emerald Lake. Limited copies with sprayed edges!Professional bull rider Emmett Bush is not looking for love. He’s looking for a paycheque to save his family’s farm from bankruptcy. So when he agrees to be the leading man on...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2899
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Midnight Curfew
    New Release
    Midnight Curfew
    The Jaeger family return in the brand new queer, dark romance from New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas, in which two rivals must fight their forbidden and burning attraction to one another. Summertime is quiet in southern Florida. In the humidity, the streets are empty, and the nights are still—perfect for a little mischief while the police aren't looking....
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell
    New Release
    I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell
    What could go wrong on a road trip to Hell? ⭐ corporate hell vibes ⭐ only one bed ⭐ a road trip through the underworld ⭐ forced proximity ⭐ slow burn romance 'A delirious, clever romp of a book. Best time I've had with a book in ages!' JENNA LEVINE Brie Benson lives life in survival mode, right down to...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Christmas Staycation
    Christmas Staycation by Meghan Quinn: Nothing says Merry Christmas like fake fiancés, family pressure, and accidentally falling for your ex's brother... Nolan never met a spotlight he didn't like. As a major league baseball player with a filthy mouth, an ego the size of the North Pole, and zero interest in behaving, he's perfectly happy breezing into Christmas in Kringletown...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Psychotic Obsession
    From USA Today bestselling author and TikTok sensation comes the steamy, emotional dark romance spin-off that everyone is talking about!'Filled with TENSION, HEARTBREAK and ELECTRIC CHEMISTRY. This one will tear your heart right out of your chest before tossing it back in and sewing you up' No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Brynne Weaver'Leigh Rivers is THE QUEEN OF...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • A Married Little Christmas
    New Release
    A Married Little Christmas
    Step into Christmas with Abby and Maya Jimenez - a special hardback packable of swoon-worthy novellas, recipes to make and illustrations.
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 190,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.