Aging Fiction

John Updike reads six stories he has selected from the hundred-odd he has published. "A&P", recounting a moral crisis on the checkout counter, is his most anthologized story. "Pigeon Feathers," the longest story included, tells of a fourteen-year-old boy's fear of death and the answer he finds...

This program is read by the author. "Man in the Dark is an undoubted pleasure to read. Auster really does possess the wand of the enchanter." —Michael Dirda, The New York Review of Books From Paul Auster, a "literary original" (Wall Street Journal) comes a novel that forces us to confront the...

This funny and endearing novel of family, secrets, and aging follows an elderly man who heads off on a joyride with a new young friend—who may have some secrets of her own. A driving force in literature, the one and only Lee Smith returns with a road trip novel, a story full of hope and humor...

To this irresistible debut collection of short stories, Richard Russo brings the same bittersweet wit, deep knowledge of human nature, and spellbinding narrative gifts that distinguish his best-selling novels. His themes are the imperfect bargains of marriage; the discoveries and...

“Middle Spoon subverts the ordinary novel with intelligence and vulnerability. . . . Varela has made a sly, analytical opera of the heart.” —Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less and Less Is Lost “A rollicking delight! . . . Varela asks provocative questions about the shape of family and...

The women who spent their childhood summers in a small southern town discover it harbors secrets as lush as the marshes that surround it... Bonny Blankenship’s most treasured memories are of idyllic summers spent in Watersend, South Carolina, with her best friend, Lainey McKay. Amid the...

Set in Toronto and Italy, this powerful sequel to In a Glass House explores the sometimes forbidden aspect of desire and one’s longing for what is unrecoverable. Victor Innocente remeets his half-sister in Toronto, shortly after his father’s death. Uneasy with their new proximity in each...

Winner of the Ottawa Book Award Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award A Globe and Mail Notable Book of the Year A Quill & Quire Top Five Canadian Fiction Book of the Year A Maclean’s Top Ten Book of the Year Elizabeth Hay’s runaway national bestseller is a funny, sad-eyed...

A darkly beautiful, eerie, hypnotic novel about two elderly sisters living alone at the edge of the world. In a place and time unknown, two elderly sisters live in a walled garden, secluded from the outside world. Evelyn and Lily have only ever known each other. What was before the garden, they...

“Captures the richness and complication of female friendships in a way few writers have done. . . incredibly rich characterizations and a profound sense of place.” — Cosmopolitan In her magnificent classic Outer Banks, acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Anne Rivers Siddons...

“Hilarious. . . . To understand Russia, read A Terrible Country.” —Time "This artful and autumnal novel, published in high summer, is a gift to those who wish to receive it." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Hilarious, heartbreaking . . . A Terrible Country may be one of the best...

From Peter Mayle, a wonderful new novel steeped in wine—and the business of wine?and set in, bien sûr, Provence. Max Skinner is not exactly setting the London financial world on fire?and when his supervisor steals his biggest client, it’s definitely time to inspect the vineyard in Provence...

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD NAMED A NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST A razor-sharp new collection of stories of visionary childhood misfits and struggling adult dreamers from this legendary writer of “perfectly...

ONE OF HOUSTON CHRONICLE'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR From the acclaimed author of Wintering: a thrilling ode to the spirit of adventure and the vagaries of loss and love. "A beautiful, big-hearted, triumphant novel.”—Nathan Hill, author of The Nix In 1897, Odd Einar Eide returns home from a...

In Lionel Shriver’s entertaining send-up of today’s cult of exercise—which not only encourages better health, but now like all religions also seems to promise meaning, social superiority, and eternal life—an aging husband’s sudden obsession with extreme sport makes him unbearable...

A member of the greatest generation looks back on the loves and losses of his past and comes to treasure the present anew in this poignant and thoughtful new novel from a modern master Stewart O'Nan is renowned for illuminating the unexpected grace of everyday life and the resilience of ordinary...

"Patti Callahan Henry is quickly becoming one of my favorites." --Debbie Macomber Just in time for Christmas, escape with a perfect love song, a perfect love story, and a perfect dose of holiday magic from the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea and Once Upon a...

The beloved author of Early Morning Riser brings us glittering stories of love—friendships formed at the airport bar, ex-husbands with benefits, mothers of suspiciously sweet teenagers, ill-advised trysts—in all its forms, both ridiculous and sublime. Includes “Chicken-Flavored and...

A fantastic short story collection from critically acclaimed, and bestselling author, John Updike...

From the bestselling author of Eventide, The Tie That Binds is a powerfully eloquent tribute to the arduous demands of rural America, and of the tenacity of the human spirit. Colorado, January 1977. Eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough lies in a hospital bed, IV taped to the back of her hand...