The Poorhouse Fair

The Poorhouse Fair (1959) was the first novel by the American author John Updike.

A new edition (New York : Knopf, 1977) was published with an introduction by the author. According to the introduction, the new edition contains some changes from the first edition

Plot

The setting is a fictional location in New Jersey. At the Diamond County Home for the Aged, the inmates prepare for the ritual of the Poorhouse Fair; a summer celebration at which the old and infirm sell their produce to the people of the nearby town. The elderly residents at the home, full of memories and complaints, take pride every year in the excitements of this one day. But when the fair goes less well that the old folks had hoped, they are in no doubt who to blame: Conner, the new prefect of the home. Together, they begin to revolt against the younger man, and enact an ancient rite of protest.

Select works of John Updike
Rabbit Novels
Rabbit, Run (1960) • Rabbit Redux (1971) • Rabbit Is Rich (1981) • Rabbit at Rest (1990) • Rabbit Remembered (2001)
Bech books
Bech, a Book (1970) • Bech Is Back (1982) • Bech at Bay (1998)
Buchanan books
Buchanan Dying (1974) • Memories of the Ford Administration (1992)
Eastwick books
The Scarlet Letter trilogy
A Month of Sundays (1975) • Roger's Version (1986) • S. (1988)
Other novels
The Poorhouse Fair (1959) • The Centaur (1963) • Of the Farm (1965) • Couples (1968) • Marry Me: A Romance (1976) • The Coup (1978) •Brazil (1994) • In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996) • Toward the End of Time (1997) • Gertrude and Claudius (2000) • Seek My Face (2002) • Villages (2004) • Terrorist (2006)
Short story collections
The Same Door (1959) • Pigeon Feathers (1962) • Olinger Stories (1964) • The Music School (1966) • Museums and Women (1972) • Too Far to Go (1979) • Problems (1979) • Trust Me (1984) • The Afterlife (1994) • Licks of Love (2000) • The Early Stories (2003) • My Father's Tears (2009)
Poetry collections
The Carpentered Hen (1958) • Telephone Poles (1963) • Midpoint (1969) • Tossing and Turning (1977) • Facing Nature (1985) • Collected Poems (1993) • Americana (2001) • Endpoint (2009)
Adaptations