Now, in this collection of interconnected short stories, Jennifer Haigh returns to the vividly imagined world of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town rocked by decades of painful transition. From its heyday during two World Wars through its slow decline, Bakerton is a town that refuses to give up gracefully, binding--sometimes cruelly - succeeding generations to the place that made them.

The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale is a delightful collection of stories that chronicle the whimsical and often absurd adventures of the lovable Peterkin family. First published in the late 19th century, this charming book has entertained generations of readers with its humor, wit, and gentle satire. The Peterkin family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin and their children, are known for their well-meaning but hilariously misguided attempts...

A brilliant new novel from the author of The South, winner of the Irish Times/Aer Lingus Award. In a story of stunning power, Toibin reconstucts the history of the relationships of an Irish judge--a completely legal creature who is just beginning to discover how painfully disconnected he is from other human beings.

"The story of a group of people who haven't seen each other since they were best friends at school. When one of them dies in a terrible tragedy, the reunited friends work through their grief together and find that each of their lives is impacted in ways they could have never foreseen.--From publisher description.

A powerful tale that follows the lives of a black family and their friends living in a Michigan city. In 1931, Macon Dead III, later nicknamed Milkman, is prematurely brought into the world, the first black child born in Mercy Hospital, just after his mother witnesses the brief flight of a man determined to fly from the cupola of the hospital. Although the novel revolves around Milkman, the stories spun out from him embrace a wide variety of characters...

Margaret and Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure--a year living in Kenya. While Patrick pratices equatorial medicine, Margaret works as a photojournalist, capturing a dizzying and sometimes dangerous multicultural city on film. Shuttling between tony expatriate suburbs and squalid shantytowns, Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores...

Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence.

"Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: County Mao, Ireland. Iona arrives in Ireland with nothing but her Nan's directions, an unfailingly optimistic attitude, and an innate talent with horses. There she finds her cousins, Branna and Connor O'Dwyer, and they invite her into their lives. When Iona lands a job at the local stables, she meets the owner, Boyle McGrath. ...

It's mid-December and for the fifth year, at the Sullivans' lonely brownstone in Harlem, stockings go un-stuffed, tinsel un-strewn, gifts un-bought, mistletoe un-hung, chestnuts un-roasted, carols un-played, cookies un-cooked and a tree un-visible. But this year, a mysterious someone is sending gifts to widower Henry Sullivan and his two children, Will and Ella. These gifts are... strange. Noisy. And there's no returning them. First, a small beaked...

"Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan--a decision...