Richard Everett, aged 11, shoots and kills his mother with a mail-order gun. He confesses, but is not believed. Seven years later, he is still free, living in a filthy room and growing obese. His mother Nada, a writer, was an elusive woman, gravitating towards the monied people of town. Richard's father, Elwood, worshipped Nada, but was also a dist...more
Joyce Carol Oates’s Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. Spanning from the Great Depression to the turbulent Vietnam War era, Wonderland is the epic account of Jesse Vogel, a boy who emerged from a family tragedy with his life spared but his world torn apa...more
Joyce Carol Oates's epic novel of an American family in the 1950's probes the tender division between the permissible and the forbidden, between ordinary life and the secret places of the heart. Set in an industrial, working-class town in upstate New York, this book chronicles the frustrating marriage of parents Lyle and Hannah; the idealistic poli...more
Winner of the National Book AwardOne of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the YearNamed a Best Book of the Year by Time, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Amazon.com, Salon, Slate, The National Book Critics Circle, The Christian Science Monitor. . . .Tree of Smoke is the story of William "Skip" Sands...more
More than thirty mothers and adoptees--including Louise Erdrich, Nancy Mairs, and Minnie Bruce Pratt--recount their experiences with adoption and explore such issues as open adoption, cross-cultural adoption, birth records, and adoption by lesbians. Original. IP.
The novels of Gail Godwin are contemporary classics -- evocative, powerfully affecting, beautifully crafted fiction alive with endearing, unforgettable characters. Her critically acclaimed work has placed her among the ranks of Eudora Welty, Pat Conroy, and Carson McCullers, firmly establishing Godwin as a Southern literary novelist for the ages. I...more
"REAL ARTISTRY...A FINELY CRAFTED AND ABSORBING NOVEL."--Los Angeles TimesDane is an American magazine journalist, and John, a British psychotherapist. He says he knows everything about her, how she thinks, what she wants from life. Under the force of his certainty, Dane marries John and takes up the care of his silent three-year-old son, Robin.The...more
Violet Clay had come to New York City from Charleston to take the art world by storm. But nine years, many affairs, and thousands of drinks later, the reality of her shadow life is made clear when she is fired from her job as a freelance illustrator. That same day, she hears that her beloved Uncle Ambrose, an unsuccessful writer, has shot himself.A...more
"[A] BRILLIANT, WITTY AND PROVOCATIVE NEW NOVEL."--San Francisco ChronicleAs a young woman, the brilliant and eternally curious Magda Danvers took the academic world by storm. Then, to everyone's surprise, she married Francis Lake, a mild, midwestern seminarian, who has devoted his life to taking care of his charismatic wife. Now, Magda's grave ill...more
Here at last is the eagerly awaited new novel from New York Times bestselling author Gail Godwin. Queen of the Underworld is sweeping and sultry literary fiction, featuring a memorable young heroine and engaging characters whose intimate dramas interconnect with hers. In the summer of 1959, as Castro clamps down on Cuba and its first wave of exiles...more