THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
Macon Leary writes guidebooks for Americans who have to travel on business but wish they could stay home. The
Macon hates traveling himself. He likes regular routines and a sense of order in the world around him. He would always rather be at home, in his own house -even a house without his son Ethan, who is dead, and his wife Sarah, who has left him.
But things change, things happen . . . Macon goes to stay with his unmarried sister Rose and his two divorced brothers Charles and Porter. His dog Edward starts behaving badly, biting people and chasing them up trees. Muriel the dog trainer from the Meow-Bow Animal Hospital has to be sent for. Then Macon's wife Sarah wants a divorce, and Macon argues with Muriel about training Edward. And Julian, Macon's boss, keeps asking when Macon will finish the next guidebook.
Macon is a kind man, though often puzzled by life’s complications.
He wants to do the right thing, but doesn't always know what it is. One day, in Paris, he finds out . . .OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY
The Accidental Tourist
Jennifer Bassett
B^cK with the family
Trdininq £dw<\rd
Limping onward
The invitation
life on Singleton Jtreet
The v/rom, type of wowim
The wedding
The phone сь\\
B^ck home
P^riS
The Accidental Tourist
Stage 5 (1800 headwords)
Series Editor: Jennifer Bassett Founder Editor: Tricia 1 ledge Activities Editors: Jennifer Bassett and C hristine Lindop
Л NN К ТУ I. Е R
The Accidental Tourist
Jennifer Bassett
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
CONTENTS
STORY INTRODUCTION PEOPLE IN THIS STORY
Breaking up
Carrying on
Back with the family
Training Edward
Limping onward
The invitation
Life on Singleton Street
The wrong type of woman
The wedding
The phone call
Back home
Paris
GLOSSARY
activities: Before Reading activities: While Reading activities: After Reading ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE BOOKWORMS LIBRARY
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Original edition copyright © Anne Tyler Modarressi, et al. 1985 First published in Great Britain by Chatto & Windus Ltd 1985 Tliis simplified edition © Oxford University Press 2008 Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
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