Mrs. Ted Bliss has lived on her own in a Miami condominium complex since the death of her husband, a Chicago butcher, and in learning to live in the modern world, she's made some interesting friends. Mrs. Ted is stepping out with more than one shady gentleman who is overly interested in the late Mr. Ted's Buick LeSabre. Hilarious, touching, and complex, this novel -- Elkin's last before his death in 1995 -- is the winner of the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.