The Rug Merchant

Phillip Lopate. Penguin Books, $9.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-14-009676-7

Melancholic, shy rug merchant Cyrus Irani is a middle-aged, steadfast bachelor whose relationships with women dissolve, whose store rent has been tripled, whose mother wants him to marry a nice Zoroastrian girl. PW commented: ""Lopate maintains a tone and atmosphere of genteel defeat in his sensitive portrait.'' (March)

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