Finding a Girl in America — Dubus, Godine 1980

📖 Finding a Girl in America by Andre Dubus (1980, David R. Godine) — Dubus’s third collection of short fiction, gathering ten stories and the title novella that explore desire, violence, and the quiet desperation of ordinary lives in modern New England. This first edition is preserved in its original dust jacket with the $10.95 price intact.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Andre Dubus (1936–2017), Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the Boston Globe’s Laurence L. Winship Award
• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc., Boston
• Year: 1980 (First Edition, stated)
• Format: Hardcover in dust jacket
• Pages: 185 | ISBN: 0-87923-311-7
• Condition: VG+/VG (Book/Jacket) — full report below

THE STORIES

The collection opens with “Killings,” in which a bereaved father stalks the man who killed his son — a story later adapted for the 2004 film We Don’t Live Here Anymore. Other stories include “The Dark Men,” “Lover,” “At St. Croix,” “The Pitcher,” and “The Winter Father,” each examining the fracture points in relationships with Dubus’s characteristic precision and empathy. The title novella follows Hank Allison, a recurring character from Dubus’s earlier work, through a crisis of identity and desire.

THIS EDITION

Published by David R. Godine in 1980, this is the first edition in the publisher’s distinctive format: navy blue cloth boards with gilt spine lettering, housed in a photographic dust jacket by Steffeny Smith. The calligraphy on the jacket is by Stephen Harvard. Godine was known for producing finely crafted literary editions, and this volume reflects that standard with clean typography and quality binding.

COVER ART & DESIGN

The dust jacket features a striking atmospheric photograph by Steffeny Smith: a solitary figure silhouetted against a hazy, overcast sky, standing on a wet, reflective shoreline. The image evokes isolation and contemplation — a visual echo of the emotional landscape inside the book. The title appears in reddish-brown cursive lettering at the top, with “ANDRE DUBUS” in clean capitals below. The back jacket carries three critical pull quotes alongside a black-and-white portrait of Dubus by Peggy Rombach.

WHY IT MATTERS

• “Killings” and two other stories from this collection were adapted for the 2004 film We Don’t Live Here Anymore, directed by John Curran and starring Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts, and Laura Dern
• Dubus was compared to Chekhov by the Los Angeles Times; the Atlantic Monthly called him “the sort of writer who instructs the heart”
• A Marine Corps captain and Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate, Dubus taught at Bradford College and influenced a generation of American short story writers, including his sons Andre II and Jacques

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? First edition, stated, published in 1980 by David R. Godine. The dust jacket retains the original $10.95 price on the front flap and is unclipped.

What condition is it in? VG+/VG (Book/Jacket) — full report below.

Is it signed? No. There is a small neat ownership signature dated 2/81 on the half-title page, but the book is not author-signed.

FOR COLLECTORS

Finding a Girl in America is the hardest of Dubus’s three story collections to find in good condition with an intact dust jacket. The Godine first edition is the definitive collecting format — later paperback reprints lack the jacket design that defines the book’s visual identity. This copy’s clean boards and unclipped jacket make it a solid representative of the first printing.

Condition Report

Overall Grade: Very Good+ (VG+) / Very Good (VG) (Book / Jacket)

Cover & Spine: Deep navy blue cloth boards remain clean with bright gilt spine lettering. Light rubbing at spine ends. Circular light speckling pattern on cloth, center of back board.

Dust Jacket: Unclipped jacket preserved in a removable archival Mylar sleeve. Minor toning to spine and fold margins, with faint rubbing along top edge.

Text Block & Pages: Off-white/cream pages are clean and unmarked throughout, aside from a small ink signature on the half-title page.

Binding: Tight, square, and firm.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

HFB-SEO-v1: 2026-07-28

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