JeannetteHaien's award-winning first novel relates theseemingly simple tale of a parishioner confiding in her priest, but the tangledconfession brings secrets to light that provoke a moral quandary for not onlythe clergyman, but the reader as well. Set in a small town in Ireland, Haien's intimate novel of conversations anddilemmas-perfect for readers of Paul Harding's Tinkers, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, and Flannery O'Connor'sWise Blood-is "an elegantly...

This book is a collection of beloved stories that have comprised an important part of the fabric of our culture, from the earliest days of our nation to the twentieth century. Some of the stories, such as Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," and James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," have been long regarded as literary...

Contains biographical sketches of writers who either began writing novels after 1945 or have done their most important work since then.