Narrative theme: sense of place

Book SynopsisIn her award-winning debut collection, Emily W. Pease is at work redefining the short story. Let Me Out Here explores the underbellies and strange desires of our neighbors, our loved ones, ourselves. A co-ed takes up/leaves school with a mysterious cab driver who’s been calling every night on her dormitory’s hall phone; a family isolated by their faith hikes to a waterfall in search of healing; a mother sets her balcony on fire after an awkward family dinner; a woman befriends the snakes her preacher boyfriend keeps in their shed. This revealing collection offers a deep empathy for people doing the best they can, despite themselves. Spread over varied landscapes of the South and offering surprising moments of raw revelation, the characters here find themselves at crossroads or alone on an empty street at night. With Let Me Out Here, Pease joins the ranks of Mary Gaitskill, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Kelly Link, and adds to their tradition a deft, singular style and a voice as darkly funny as it is exacting. Let Me Out Here is the 2018 winner of the C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThirty stories, collected in one volume for the very first time, from one of the South's best known and most acclaimed short story writers. With his signature darkly acerbic and sharp-witted humor, George Singleton has built a reputation as one of the most astute and wise observers of the South. Now Tom Franklin introduces this master of the form with a compilation of acclaimed and prize-winning short fiction spanning twenty years and eight collections, including stories originally published in outlets like the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Playboy, the Georgia Review, the Southern Review, and many more. A lovelorn and chatty euthanasia vet arrives at a couples’ house to put down their dog, Probate; a father-to-be searches his workplace—a bar—for a replacement sonogram after recording an episode of Bonanza over the original; an unlikely romance sparks between a librarian and a professional bowler while they compete to win an RV; a father takes his son to visit the many ex-girlfriends that could have been his mother. These stories bear the influence of Flannery O’Connor and Raymond Carver, at other times Lewis Nordan and Donald Barthelme, and touch on the mysteries of childhood, the complexities of human relationships, and the absurdity of everyday life, its inexorable defeats and small triumphs. Assembled here for the very first time, You Want More showcases the body of work, hilarious and incisive, that has cemented George Singleton’s place among the South’s greatest living writers.Trade Review"Singleton brings together his best work along with one new story in this smashing collection that combines satire, tragicomic premises, and small-town South Carolina locales. Items as innocuous as caulk or a VHS tape become the focus of droll yet moving meditations on the foibles of modern life or the misery of a marriage’s disintegration...Fans and newcomers alike will rejoice in reading these highlights from a Southern literary master." ―Publishers Weekly, Starred "Singleton’s fellow writers regard his work with an affection bordering on awe, but both comic writing and short fiction are underrated forms, which is how Singleton has become something like the John Prine or Tom Waits of Southern scribes: revered, honored, and esteemed but almost criminally underappreciated. Indeed, Singleton’s work is too original, too wildly hilarious and inventive to be imitated." ―Chapter16 "Although not presented chronologically by original publication date, there is a thoughtful ordering to the stories nonetheless, or rather, a heartbeat that rises and falls only to rise again throughout the collection. The final piece, “What Could Have Been?” is a story written as driving instructions giving way to directions to access life-defining memories. In this treasure trove of a collection, readers are directed to revisit and celebrate all that has been in Singleton’s career-defining work as sage storyteller and as chronicler and inquisitor of southern bedlam." ―Southern Review of Books "These stories have absurdist energy, wit, and inventiveness to burn, but antic comedy is their mode and métier, not their sole aim or reason for being. Singleton's work doesn't wear literariness on its sleeve; even when he channels canonical writers, as in "John Cheever, Rest in Peace," he does so in a way that's literal and can seem almost anti-literary—making the grandly metaphorical, life-spanning "The Swimmer" into a story in which a man suffers a heart attack on his riding mower and then, dead, cuts a gently arcing swath across his town before crashing into a silo. But these stories are often sneakily ambitious, sneakily moving. Singleton has Charles Portis' gift for writing a satire both ruthless and lined always with affection, and like that Southern icon, he's a master of and evangelist for the joys and idiosyncrasies of speech, especially the loquacious talk of barrooms and Little League fields and scrapbooking shops. For the uninitiated, a wonderful introduction to a Southern original." ―Kirkus Reviews, Starred "A greatest-hits album from a writer whose stories are like epic spitballs from the back of the class: high-arcing and unbearably funny protests against the absurdities of everyday life." ―Jonathan Miles, Garden & Gun "In his brilliant mix of comedy and tragedy and deep tenderness for the most “minor” characters among us, George Singleton is nothing less than the Shakespeare of South Carolina." ―Margaret Renkl, author of Late Migrations "George Singleton is one of the funniest writers in America. He's also the writer most attuned to the American freakshow―its hilarity, its hopes, its heartbreak. His fiction has mattered, a lot, for as long as he's been writing it, but it's never mattered more than now. You Want More is a major book from a major writer."―Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe? "People always ask what the one book you’d take to a deserted island. For me, it might be this one." ―David Joy, author of When These Mountains Burn "Over his career, George Singleton has written unruly characters living unruly lives. His depictions of the American South―in particular the everyday tumult of white blue-collar men and women struggling to come to terms with this strange and chaotic world― are both tragic and comic, heartbreaking, surreal, and―when least expected―weirdly ebullient. Singleton is a brilliant storyteller; his vision is crystal clear and wonderfully warped." ―Julianna Baggott, author of Burn "Singleton’s South doesn’t look like anybody else’s." —The Atlanta-Journal Constitution "A disturbingly askew vision of the South." ―Entertainment Weekly "George Singleton is a madman. He's also one of the most talented writers the South has turned out in decades." —The Charleston Post and Courier

Read more less

Book Synopsis“There’s beauty to be found outdoors, but it’s not without its horrors. The conflicted role of humans in nature is a familiar theme, but few narratives hum with the surreal power of this one.”  — Kirkus ReviewsAn intensely graceful novel recounting scenes of the Norwegian countryside from one of Norway's most beloved 20th-century writersTarjei Vesaas’s final work, The Hills Reply, is a flow of intensely lyrical autobiographical scenes. The vivid beauty of the wilds of Norway grounds the narrator’s interior flashes.The first sketch finds a boy, his father, and their packhorse clearing a logging road buried in snow as their surroundings give way to a crisis. Profound insights into human behavior, solitude, and nonverbal communication stand up to the power and immensity of the natural world. The land speaks to (and at times almost swallows) the central character, as he is pushed to the edge of what a body and mind can endure.The hypnotic pulse of Vesaas’s prose blurs the line between memory and hallucination, as it stares bravely into the unblinking eye of Nature. An unforgettable book, The Hills Reply is a visceral salute to the human spirit, to the ecstasy of wilderness, and to their tender overlapping.

Read more less

Book SynopsisKin is a dazzling family epic from one of Croatia's most prized writers. In this sprawling narrative which spans the entire twentieth century, Miljenko Jergovic peers into the dusty corners of his family's past, illuminating them with a tender, poetic precision. Ordinary, forgotten objects - a grandfather's beekeeping journals, a rusty benzene lighter, an army issued raincoat - become the lenses through which Jergovic investigates the joys and sorrows of a family living through a century of war.Trade Review* [Jergovic is] a poet, novelist, and journalist of the highest caliber...His concern is for the living and in this collection of stories about Sarajevo and its inhabitants he writes about them with the seriousness, sensitivity, quirky intelligence, and gentle humor of a master of the short story. - The New Republic * Jergovic has the mien of the rare author whose gift is so innate he need only conquer a few demons and steady his hands enough to write it all down. - San Diego Union Tribune * ...a multilayered and complex text, which demonstrates why Jergovic is one of the most prominent Croatian authors and one of the most translated European writers. - World Literature Today on Mama Leone, a winner of Italy's 2003 Premio Grinzane Cavour for Best Book in Translation.

Read more less

Book SynopsisParts per Million engages in environmental topics and the George W. Bush presidency in a way that can shed light on the current administration The novel mixes fast pacing with a thriller-like intrigue centered on an elite local university, sharing facts and lifestyle choices in a way that cranks the plot forward, unlike other fact-heavy environmental fiction Environmental fiction, and politically active fiction, are being featured regularly by the media and bloggers as readers react to the Trump presidency and seek new ways of understanding today’s political climate PEN/America silver seal will help draw patrons' attention to the fact that the novel was shortlisted for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged FictionTrade Review“Parts per Million effortessly weaves the personal with the political in this relentless page-turner. Part psychological thriller, part hard-boiled noir, the characters are fresh, real and alive. With a lightness of touch and an uncanny ear for great dialogue, Julia Stoops tells the story of four activists in a time of war, their moral and emotional conflicts, their betrayals and their small acts of heroism. Parts per Million reads like the bastard offspring of Graham Greene and Naomi Klein.” —Robert Newman, author of The Fountain at the Center of the World “While Julia Stoops documents activism of the early 2000s, Parts per Million couldn’t feel more relevant today. The struggle to remain faithful to the ideals—and hard work—of activism, the thrill of the rare, hard-won victory, and the navigating of personal politics, gives this book a thrilling narrative and makes it an inspired wake-up call to all of our inner activists.” —Ben Parzybok, author of Sherwood Nation “The little-known history of West Coast, Left Coast eco-activism in the early Aughts bursts to life in this timely and important book, full of finely drawn characters and outrageous intrigues. Eco-fiction at its finest, Parts per Million is one of the origin stories of the resistance, and a primer for the fight to come.” —Susan DeFreitas, author of Hot Season “Parts per Million is a cry for justice and a journey through the heart. Julia Stoops brilliantly conjures the social and political unrest of the early 2000s. The war drums, the resistance, the secretive birth of the surveillance state—all lit by deep emotional honesty. Stoops’s keen eye sweeps us into the lives of three Portland activists—separate souls shakily united by a cause, a house, and a radiant artist/ex-junkie named Deirdre, who simultaneously illuminates and complicates their struggles. Compelling and deeply compassionate, Parts per Million takes us to a time and place we thought we could forget, but can’t, and shouldn’t. Reading it may be the surest way to understand who we were then, and—in the tumult of our times—who we need to be today.” —Scott Sparling, author of Wire to Wire “In her carefully thought-out debut novel Parts per Million, Julia Stoops gives us a team of young, and not-so-young political activists at the beginning of the twenty-first century, working overtime to correct what they see as dangerous if not disastrous forces at work in the American political status quo. Stoops’s adroit involvement of digital technology in the story gives a lively real-world edge to the presentation. Like a heartbeat against the center of the novel’s environmental and war concerns is a love relationship laden with hopes, dreams and challenges familiar to the times. Parts per Million is a timely and stimulating fictional look at the difficult and too often thankless task of defending the planet.” —Harold Johnson, author of The Fort Showalter Blues "The page-turning plot would be reason enough to read Parts per Million, but Julia Stoops gives us characters so fully developed the novel feels like theater-in-the-round. The questions they ask themselves are central to our times—how do we live ethical lives in the face of so much institutionalized greed? If the personal is political, how can we turn away from anyone in crisis? Stoops takes us on a joyride through the political turmoil of the early twenty-first century, bringing anti-war protests and direct action environmentalists vividly to life. Her characters may wear their political hearts on their sleeves, but it’s their internal struggles that capture our attention, and make this story such a rich and timely read." —Stevan Allred, author of A Simplified Map of the Real World

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn aging botanist withdraws to the seclusion of his family’s vacation home in the German countryside. In his final days, he realizes that his life’s work of scientific classification has led him astray from the hidden secrets of the natural world. As his body slows and his mind expands, he recalls his family’s escape from budding fascism in Germany, his father’s need to prune and control, and his tender moments with first loves. But as his disintegration into moss begins, his fascination with botany culminates in a profound understanding of life’s meaning and his own mortality.Visionary and poetic, Moss explores our fundamental human desires for both transcendence and connection and serves as a testament to our tenuous and intimate relationship with nature.Klaus Modick is an award-winning author and translator who has published over a dozen novels as well as short stories, essays, and poetry. His translations into German include work by William Goldman, William Gaddis, and Victor LaValle, and he has taught at Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, and several other universities in the United States, Japan, and Germany. Moss, Modick’s debut novel, is his first book to be published in English. He lives in Oldenburg, Germany.Trade ReviewBig Other Book Award FinalistReading Group Choices “Editors’ Pick” selectionArts Fuse “Recommended Books of the Year” selectionWords Without Borders “Watchlist” selection“[Moss] opens with the death of a renowned botanist, whose . . . hypnotic reflections and biographical recollections disavow the ‘botanist’s penetrating gaze’—its ‘classifications without real knowledge’—to arrive at a rejuvenating, anarchic conception of the natural world.” —Millions“A powerful exercise in eco-fiction. . . . Modick’s writing, at its best, presents the ‘mossifcation’ of the mind, combining clinical observation with philosophical lyricism.” —Arts Fuse“[Moss] taps into a host of humanitarian and ecological concerns, even as it reminds the reader of the complex web of connections humans dwell within.” —Words Without Borders“A masterful examination of internal conflict, gratifying for readers inspired by ecofiction and literary theory. . . . Inner explorations transform into a Weltanschauung of epiphany and new understanding of love, death, and the natural world.” —Booklist“A graceful, thought-provoking portrait of memory and mortality.” —Publishers Weekly“Thoughtful and thought-provoking.” —Midwest Book Review

Read more less

Book SynopsisStung with the bitter loss of the life she had built, Gladys's story from The Girl from Old Nichol continues with Gladys as a housekeeper for the wealthy widower, James Hornby. Reunited with Toughie for one night before he leaves for New York with his bride, their romantic interlude leaves Gladys alone and pregnant. Fearing the workhouse, Gladys confesses all to James, who offers to marry her and legitimize Toughie's baby. The new family lives happily, adding a daughter of their own. When Toughie returns years later as a widower, he meets his son and begs Gladys to travel to New York with him. Torn between the man she has loved since childhood and a comfortable life of luxury for herself and her children, Gladys faces a decision that will only lead to devastation; no matter what choice she makes, someone will be hurt and abandoned.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis“She’d told herself, and her husband Tom, that she was coming to rescue Vicky. And she was. She would. She’d been rescuing her sister her entire life. But she’d never done anything remotely this extreme. She knew the region had been evacuated, and yet somehow hadn’t pictured everyone literally gone. . .The stark, devastated landscape heightened all her senses, as if her fear made the colors deeper, the smells headier, the sounds crisper. She couldn’t give in to the terror; if she did, it might never end. She had no choice but to finish what she’d begun.”A devastating earthquake has just hit the San Francisco Bay Area, cutting off the outside world completely. When Lily decides to fly from Nebraska to California and make the treacherous journey into the Bay Area to find her sister, she knows she's headed for a disaster zone, but nothing prepares her for what she finds.Those who survived and didn’t evacuate are making shelters, running meals programs, rigging their own technologies—and redefining the very meaning of community. Lily bands together with a couple of feral kids, a steadfast activist, and a bonobo researcher, among others, to forge a new life.A piercing, unforgettable story of hope in the face of crisis, The Evolution of Love asks what does it take for people to come together, what dangers must they fend off in their bid for survival, and what lengths will they go to rebuild home.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe never-before-published 1966 novel by legendary film director Frank Capra finally in print for the first time"If you, too, feel like wandering, come along and help me unravel this odd tale—a tale full of half-truths, whole-truths, and no-truths at all."So begins Frank Capra's never published, and often speculated about novel of his favorite place—Silver Lake, nestled in the jagged cliffs of the eastern Sierra Nevadas. Capra casts the fictional Frank Capra in the lead roll of this novel of environmental and humanitarian preservation.As tourism comes back to the decimated boom towns of the eastern Sierras, Frank Capra finds himself, along with a do-good cop named Lefty, at the center of a scandal. That scandal being that they provided food and protection to two men living off the grid in the wilderness, while the powers that be have been desperately trying to clear the men out of the area, being not the kind of folk they want in their towns.In a story that only Frank Capra can tell, the David and Goliath of small-town tourism politics comes to a head in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas. Cry Wilderness is a deeply humane novel about the ways in which people caring for one another ultimately triumphs over oppression.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisChance is a hitman with hippie roots and deep emotional wounds, disillusioned by life and stung by love—and his next target is the woman who rejected him. But taking on such a job is not without complications. As he closes in on his victim, Chance struggles to rediscover the competitive edge that normally makes him so deadly. Faye Lindstrom escaped a life of captivity and addiction in Quintana Roo, but she can't flee the woman she has become. For now, she holes up in a house in Crooked River owned by an old friend, the reclusive novelist William Dieter. But that safe haven will only last until the end of the summer, assuming that the violence in her past doesn't catch up to her first.For lovers of Southern noir, Flamingo Lane is a gritty cat-and-mouse pursuit that launches from an island off the Yucatan Peninsula through the cornfields of Indiana to a small town on the Florida panhandle. A standalone sequel, Flamingo Lane ventures even further into the haunted territories of revenge and redemption first chronicled in Fever Tree.Trade ReviewFeatured in list "Books to Read If You Like Murder Mystery" in Deythere, African men's magazine https://deythere.com/books-to-read-if-you-like-murder-mystery/Live reading with poet Pepper Trail The Jefferson Exchange , Jefferson Public Radio, https://www.ijpr.org/post/applegate-trail-poetry

Read more less

Book SynopsisGrowing up in the '80s and '90s in St. Louis, Octavian Munroe and Mina Rose found a future in music. Between the stacks at Rahsaan's Records, the two fell in love to the sounds of Prince and A Tribe Called Quest. But in the wake of grief and heartbreak, they drifted apart, ultimately leaving the city for fresh starts. Decades later, Rahsaan's Records is closing for good. Seeking closure of their own, Octavian and Mina travel homeward, reckoning with the ghosts of the past they left behind and the uncertain future they must create. Insightful and nostalgic, There You Are is a wise novel of love, loss, and the power of community, backed by a phenomenal soundtrack of hip hop, soul, and jazz.Trade Review"Mathea Morais is a really gifted writer. It is a special joy for those of us who are fortunate enough to have read her coming-of age, personal and intimate story of a time in St. Louis circling the death of Michael Brown." -- Harry Belafonte, activist, actor, singer, author"...for readers who enjoy a story of robustness and fragility of love, Morais' work is a must-read." -- Kirkus Reviews

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis"Holding On To Nothing is a resonant song of the South, all whiskey, bluegrass, Dolly Parton, tobacco fields, and women who know better but still fall for the lowdown men whom they know will disappoint them." —Lauren Groff, National Book Award finalist author of Fates and Furies and Florida Lucy Kilgore has her bags packed for her escape from her rural Tennessee upbringing, but a drunken mistake forever tethers her to the town and one of its least-admired residents, Jeptha Taylor, who becomes the father of her child. Together, these two young people work to form a family, though neither has any idea how to accomplish that, and the odds are against them in a place with little to offer other than bluegrass music, tobacco fields, and a Walmart full of beer and firearms for the hunting season. Their path is harrowing, but Lucy and Jeptha are characters to love, and readers will root for their success in a novel so riveting that no one will want to turn out the light until they know whether this family will survive. In luminous prose, debut novelist Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne brings us a present-day Appalachian story in the tradition of Lee Smith, Silas House, and Ron Rash, cast without sentiment or cliché, but with a genuine and profound understanding of the place and its people.Trade ReviewNamed One of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2019 by The Millions Named One of the 25 Books to read in the second half of 2019 by The Week Selected as an Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Named One of the 5 Hottest Debuts of Fall 2019 by The Writer "Shelburne's stunning debut novel is a long trip into small-town Tennessee. . .riveting, touching, heart-wrenching, tragic, and beautiful." —Booklist "Holding On To Nothing is a resonant song of the South, all whiskey, bluegrass, Dolly Parton, tobacco fields, and women who know better but still fall for the lowdown men whom they know will disappoint them. Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne writes with extraordinary love and compassion of the lives of her flawed characters; she shines a clear, calm light on their tragedies, their joys, and their hard-won redemptions." —Lauren Groff, Florida and Fates and Furies "Forget Hillbilly Elegy and read this gorgeous novel instead. Every detail is exactly right. Contemporary themes of work and no work, drinking, sex, guns, music, community, and no future—along with in-depth character development and a hard-driving plot—make this a book you literally cannot put down." —Lee Smith, Dimestore: A Writer's Life and The Last Girls "With her immense empathy for her characters, Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne refuses to give the reader a simple, and stereotypical, tale of Appalachian dysfunction. Instead, we get a story of a seemingly star-crossed couple striving to create a better life in the most trying of circumstances. Holding On To Nothing is a gem." —Ron Rash, Serena "With unflinching candor imbued with love and understanding, Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne's evocative debut novel explores the meaning of family and the choices people make when the world denies them good options. A compassionate but unsentimental tale of love, loss, and hardship in modern-day Appalachia." —Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light "Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne’s debut novel sings and burns in equal measure. Holding On To Nothing is a gripping story of love and place, of the small choices and large passions that determine our lives, of the gorgeous hope that tomorrow will bring something solid and sturdy, something lucky and true." —Bret Anthony Johnston, Remember Me Like This and Corpus Christi "Following in the literary footsteps of Silas House's debut novel Clay's Quilt, Holding Onto Nothing is a tragically beautiful tale of love, loss, music, and blue-collar mountain life. Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne is a fresh contemporary Appalachian voice that I hope to hear from again and again." —Amy Greene, Bloodroot and Long Man "Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne writes with a chafe and charm that makes you give a damn about these flawed characters, Lucy and Jeptha, makes you root for them when what little they have is at risk. This novel has all the makings of a true ballad—heartache and dead ends, booze and bad decisions, double-crossing relatives, a hand-me-down mandolin, and a loyal dog named Crystal Gayle. It also has a deep humming heart that knows sorrow. Like Lucy’s beloved Dolly Parton, Holding On To Nothing is not just country, it’s mountain. Shelburne is a literary force to be reckoned with." —Susan Bernhard, Winter Loon "In this gritty debut, Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne deftly captures the blue-collar ache and darkly comic sensibility of what it means to exist in a world of disappointment and generational trauma, where one is both cussed and cursed. It's impossible to turn away as these hardscrabble characters embark on a long shot at love despite voices real and imagined that shout in dissent. A stunning debut by a fierce new voice in southern fiction." —Kelly J. Ford, Cottonmouths "Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne writes with an unprecedented lyricism that is both highly literary and charmingly accessible. From the opening moments of this page-turner, the reader can’t help but surrender to the titanic love affair that is Jeptha and Lucy. The storytelling is so masterful and enchanting that no matter what happens, you know you’re safe with Shelburne at the helm." —Jennie Wood, A Boy Like Me and Flutter "Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne’s complex, moving portrait of Jeptha—universally dismissed as a loser in his small town in Tennessee, but who, in Shelburne’s hands, is a wounded, sensitive soul who was never taught how to be the good man he longs to be—resonates long after the final chapter . . . Holding On To Nothing marks the debut of an important new author of Southern fiction." —Lisa Borders, The Fifty-First State and Cloud Cuckoo Land "Holding On To Nothing is a smart, wry novel filled with bourbon, bluegrass, grit, and heart." —Patricia Park, Re Jane "Holding On To Nothing is a novel of big skies and limited choices, of sweet bluegrass in a sticky hometown bar, of tobacco and guns, danger and desire. Shelburne shoots straight, never allows us to turn our heads. And even non-praying folk will pray for the desperate mismatch of Lucy and Jeptha and their lonely, shivering hearts. Shelburne has done the small town novel a wondrous turn." —Michelle Hoover, The Quickening

Read more less

Book Synopsis“When she refused me,” Charlie says at his trial. “Well, I had that gun. What else was I to do?” Lawrenceville, Illinois, 1952: Jean De Belle, the new high school librarian, is eager to begin the next phase of her young life after breaking off her engagement to Charlie Camplain. She has no way of knowing that in a few short hours, Charlie will arrive at the school, intent on convincing her to take back his ring. What happens next will reverberate through the lives of everyone who crossed paths with Charlie and Jean: the hotel clerk who called him a cab, the high school boy who became his getaway driver, and the English teacher who was Jean’s landlady, her confidant, and perhaps more. Based on a true crime and ideal for readers of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and Elizabeth Strout’s beloved Anything Is Possible, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin's Yours, Jean is a powerful novel about small town manners and the loneliness that drives people to do things they never imagined.Trade Review"Martin creates a subtle and intricate portrait of small-town mores and of the after echoes and reverberations, for those who've witnessed it, of sudden, shocking violence." —Kirkus Reviews "Based on the 1952 murder of Georgine Lyons, Martin's latest novel explores the crime and its repercussions. ... Each of those affected narrates her or his own perspective on the story, and the ensemble paints a rich picture of a crime, societal expectations, and the painful echoes in a small town that feels universal." —Booklist "Like his highly acclaimed The Bright Forever, Lee Martin’s latest novel, Yours, Jean, is based on a true crime. And, like that earlier narrative, a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the interplay of rich details and raw emotions that Martin so masterfully unfolds in his latest novel makes you ache for the lonely men and women he tenderly brings to life in this powerful story about a murder and the lasting impact it has on a close-knit community." —Linda Kass, Gramercy Books "Fantastic...Martin expertly weaves one storyline with another, and despite the many threads and characters, all remains clear. I read it in one sitting!...Highly recommended reading!" —Defrosting Cold Cases “Written with a deep and wide-ranging compassion that is rare these days, Yours, Jean is a mesmerizingly beautiful novel. Whether he is writing from the point of view of a lonesome middle-aged mother, or a young woman beginning her life with expectant joy and wonder, or a confused teenage boy or girl, or men and women trying to find themselves in any way they can, even if that means harming another, Lee Martin evokes them all with a breathtakingly poetic grace that penetrates the essential mystery of what it means to be human. Lee Martin is a master, and Yours, Jean is one of the finest novels I’ve read in years.” —Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog "Readers expect either a true-crime page turner or a literary novel of exquisite prose—unless Lee Martin is doing the writing, and then they get both. In Yours, Jean ancient passions burn through the facade of small-town grace in a story that simply won’t let go, as Lee Martin proves again why he is one of the most gifted writers of our time." —Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIt''s been three years since LUTHER KHADAFI FULLER did the unthinkable by testifying in court against ANTONIO AMEEN FELDER. Now Khadafi is back on the streets that made him who he once was. Filled with hot anger, Khadafi wants nothing more than to repay those who betrayed, hurt or abandoned him. Especially the woman he loved.After making the decision to go against Khadafi and help Ameen during trial, MARNIE has moved on with her life. But with Khadafi free again, Marnie''s past threatens her future. Every breath she takes could be her last. Meanwhile, having been acquitted of multiple murders, Ameen decides to leave D.C. But an old secret forces him to return to face it head-on. Back in the city, Ameen''s protege-turned-enemy, has orchestrated a deadly game that just might call for someone to make THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE in order to survive. In this final chapter, everything will come full circle.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of 2021 by Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times “A glorious book—an assured novel that’s gorgeously told.” —The New York Times Book Review “An incredibly moving epic about an unforgettable family.” —CBS Sunday Morning “[An] absorbing novel…I felt both grateful to have known these people and bereft at the prospect of leaving them behind.” —The Washington Post A stunning novel about love, work, and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future.Colleen and Rich Gundersen are raising their young son, Chub, on the rugged California coast. It’s 1977, and life in this Pacific Northwest logging town isn’t what it used to be. For generations, the community has lived and breathed timber; now that way of life is threatened. Colleen is an amateur midwife. Rich is a tree-topper. It’s a dangerous job that requires him to scale trees hundreds of feet tall—a job that both his father and grandfather died doing. Colleen and Rich want a better life for their son—and they take steps to assure their future. Rich secretly spends their savings on a swath of ancient redwoods. But when Colleen, grieving the loss of a recent pregnancy and desperate to have a second child, challenges the logging company’s use of the herbicides she believes are responsible for the many miscarriages in the community, Colleen and Rich find themselves on opposite sides of a budding conflict. As tensions in the town rise, they threaten the very thing the Gundersens are trying to protect: their family. Told in prose as clear as a spring-fed creek, Damnation Spring is an intimate, compassionate portrait of a family whose bonds are tested and a community clinging to a vanishing way of life. An extraordinary story of the transcendent, enduring power of love—between husband and wife, mother and child, and longtime neighbors. An essential novel for our times.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA raw and remarkable debut story collection concerning substance abuse, societal alienation, and doomed romance from a writer whose work has appeared in prestigious literary journals including The Paris Review.An amusement park employee overdoses after eating the gel of a fentanyl patch. Two homeless men discover the body of a drowned woman. A sister encounters a dangerous stranger while driving her brother to rehab. Ex-lovers seek to rekindle their relationship with the aid of an earthquake. In the nine masterful stories that comprise Thrillville, USA, debut author Taylor Koekkoek depicts Americans living on the margins of society, seeking escape from isolation and underemployment in drugs, booze, and self-destructive relationships. While the action is set largely in the rural Pacific Northwest, the characters’ malaise and disaffectedness is endemic of the country as a whole. The title takes its name from the aforementioned amusement park, but Thrillville is as much a state of mind as an actual place—a sardonic commentary on contemporary America consumed by opioid addiction, social media obsession, wealth inequality and political polarization. Yet as haunting as these stories are, they are not hopeless. Gorgeously written, they share a transcendental quality—an acknowledgment of and appreciation for the beauty in all things, even the most profane and grotesque.Trade Review"These nine stories capture Americans at society's margins." —The New York Times“Desperate situations, mordant humor, and a wonderfully skewed stance introduce characters who are blessedly without self-pity. A distinctive new voice that avoids the predictable, and takes a reader somewhere so much better.” —Amy Hempel"Koekkoek treats the reader to moving, sometimes painful tales of calamity and waywardness in perfectly tuned, gaspingly funny prose that is itself a joy and consolation. Thrillville is a wondrous debut." —Wells Tower, author of Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned"This is maybe forbidden in blurb-speak but let me address the question on your mind: yes, absolutely, Taylor Koekkoek’s stories are fun to read. Pure fun. Also, beautiful. Are they also Western, teased by that old dream and its torments? And is this our new Oregon Trail, winding up in Thrillville, USA? That, I can’t say. While the lives of Taylor K’s characters may be scrappy and improvised the stories they inhabit are absolutely worked until the art is done saying all that it sees. This isn’t a world that holds still for quiet epiphanies but the strange and brilliant images we encounter along the way remain in the mind’s eye for days, burning as miracles burn, not for heat but illumination." —Charles D’Ambrosio, author of The Dead Fish Museum and Loitering"A rip-roaring ride. Koekkoek delivers thrills and laughter-inducing shocks of insight via electric prose and some of the most unpredictable characters in literature. Hands down the sharpest sentences I’ve read in years. Thrillville, USA is storytelling at its finest." —Jonathan Escoffery, author of the national bestseller and National Book Award longlist selection If I Survive You“You that you will not find a better debut collection of stories than Thrillville, USA—not this year, not any year, and probably not for a long time to come. This collection ranks with the best I know, counting backward through the decades. All nine stories are gentle, generous, wry, surprising and fluent. (Imagine Raymond Carver if he’d known more kindness early on, if his enlarging sweetness had been allowed to flower sooner.) Buy this book, in many multiples, and share it out to the people you think the most of. And be grateful the world still makes them like it used to: excellent, and for the ages.” —Michael Byers, Cascadia Daily News

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe acclaimed New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel of small-town evil that “is genuinely chilling and something brand-new and exciting” (Stephen King) and “unforgettable” (Harlan Coben). In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI, are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he’s playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end. Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. Amid preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into a real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer’s reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come. A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime. Chizmar’s “dazzling work of fresh imagination and psychological insight” (Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of You) is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less