First published by Hyperion, 1995 

Elkin’s last completed novel was set in a Miami retirement home, and about a retiree, Dorothy Bliss, who finds her own identity three years after the death of her husband. Mrs. Ted Bliss was also Elkin’s first novel with a female protagonist. She could be considered an Elkin anti-hero: a mild and forgiving person who comes to an understanding of the human condition while literally sitting in the eye of a hurricane. The book was published in September 1995, four months after the author’s death. Reviewers and fellow writers praised the book in particular and Elkin in general. It was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award, Elkin’s second.