Publisher Description
One of "the best writers of our time" (Ann Patchett) offers this hilarious yet haunting cycle of stories.
John Irving writes of Allan Gurganus: "His narration becomes a Greek chorus, Sophocles in North Carolina." Since the explosive publication of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All decades back, Gurganus has dazzled readers as "the most technically gifted and morally responsive writer of his generation" (John Cheever).
These ten classic tales attest to the growing depth of his genius. Offering characters antic and tragic, Gurganus charts the human condition as we live it now. His parables recall William Faulkner's scope, Flannery O'Connor's corrosive wit. We encounter a seaside couple fighting to save their dog from Maine's fierce undertow; a mortician whose dedication to his departed clients exceeds all legal limits. A virginal seventy-eight-year-old grammar-school librarian has her only erotic encounter with a Joe Exotic–like polyamorous snake farmer. In the lead-off story, already excerpted in the New Yorker, cholera strikes a rural village in 1850 and citizens blame their doomed young doctor, who saved hundreds. A sublime ventriloquist, Gurganus again proves himself among our wisest writers.
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About Allan Gurganus
Allan Gurganus lives in a small town in North Carolina. The title novella of this book won the National Magazine Prize. His other honors include the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
About the Narrators
Dick Hill, named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, is one of the most awarded narrators in the business, having earned several Audie Awards and thirty-four AudioFile Earphones Awards. In addition to narrating, he has both acted in and written for the theater.
Xe Sands has more than a decade of experience bringing stories to life through narration, performance, and visual art, including recordings of the Nightwalkers series from Jaquelyn Frank. She has received several honors, including AudioFile Earphones Awards and a coveted Audie Award, and she was named Favorite Debut Romance Narrator of 2011 in the Romance Audiobooks poll.