Synopses & Reviews
From the prizewinning novelist and world-renowned short-story writer, the author of 2008s universally acclaimed novel
Peace (“A brilliant one-act drama depicting the futility and moral complexity of combat”
The New York Times)
, eleven indelible new tales that showcase the electrifying artistry of a master.
A husband confronts the power of youth and the inexorable truths of old age. A son sits by his mothers bedside determined to give her what she needs in her final days, even though doing so means breaking his own heart. A brief adulterous tryst illuminates the fragility of our most intimate relations. A young man returns in the face of crisis to the parents he once rejected. A divorced young woman dealing with slowly increasing despair develops an obsesion about a note that fell from the pocket of a man who came to eat in the café where she works. A wife whose husband has been shot must weather a terrible snowstorm with her two sons, as well as a storm of doubt about the extent of his involvement in a crime.
Richard Bauschs stories contend with transfixing themes: marital and familial estrangement, ways of trespass, the intractable mysteries and frights of daily life in these times, the uncertainty of knowledge and truth, the gulfs between friends and lovers, the frailty of even the most abiding lovewhile underlining throughout the persistence of love, the obdurate forces that connect us. His consummate skill, penetrating wit, and unfailing emotional generosity are on glorious display in this fine new collection.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
In these eleven unforgettable stories, Richard Bausch plumbs the depths of familial and marital estrangement, the gulfs between friends and lovers,
the fragility and impermanence of love—and manages to find something quite surprising: human hope.
Bausch’s assured style, signature grace, and penetrating wit shine on every page, confirming his stature as one of America’s most beloved and acclaimed writers.
Table of Contents
The Harp Department in Love
Byron the Lyron
Reverend Thronhill’s Wife
Son and Heir
Trophy
Something Is Out There
Blood
Overcast
One House in the History of Love
Immigration
Sixty-five Million Years
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Richard Bausch