The early death of a small town councilman reveals deep-rooted conflicts in the seemingly idyllic community of Pagford, which rapidly deteriorates in the face of cultural disputes, generation clashes, and a volatile election.

"Jesus' Son meets Reservoir Dogs in a breakneck-paced debut novel about love, war, bank robberies, and heroin. Cleveland, 2003. A young man is just a college freshman when he meets Emily. They share a passion for Edward Albee and ecstasy and fall hard and fast in love. But soon Emily has to move home to Elba, New York, and he flunks out of school and joins the army. Desperate to keep their relationship alive, they marry before he ships out to Iraq....

Escaping her ritzy Florida life and her cheating pornographer husband, Portia Kane returns to the South Jersey home of her youth and resolves to save herself by assisting a beloved English teacher who has retired after a traumatic incident.

Award-winning author of New York Times Editor's Choice Tales of the New WorldIn prose that is darkly humorous and alive with detail, Valiant Gentlemen reimagines the lives and intimate friendships of humanitarian and Irish patriot Roger Casement; his closest friend, Herbert Ward; and Ward's extraordinary wife, Argentinian-American heiress Sarita Sanford, in a uniquely human account of some of the early 20th century's larger historical figures. "PEN/Faulkner...