Description

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Precise, moving writing--a powerful and compelling collection.--Joseph Hurka, author of Fields of Light

The unadorned sentences often reach a conclusion whose truth makes you catch your breath. This unpretentious book is the work of a master.--Edith Pearlman, National Book Award finalist

One of the most compelling stories published by the Yale Review]. . . . A thoughtful, reflective, sensitive, and graceful work.--Kai Erikson, former editor, The Yale Review

These are stories of unexpected encounters far from home, told with a vivid sense of place. A white man with more wives than money becomes Africa's least-competent thief, two Americans contemplate love's costs and possibilities in Mexico's mountains, a seasick missionary bumps into God on the equator. George Rosen's characters seek, and sometimes find, a reality in which everywhere, there is something remarkable.

About the Author

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George Rosen was born in Chicago and educated at Harvard. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya, which served as the setting for his 1990 novel, Black Money (Scarborough House), called by Kirkus Reviews "a sophisticated, rich, and tantalizing portrait of East Africa" and by Library Journal "a strong study of power that corrupts at every level and of idealism that persists." He's also worked as a political speechwriter, a high-school debate coach, a low-income-housing consultant, and a semiprofessional actor. His short stories have appeared, among other places, in Harper's, the Yale Review, the Harvard Review, and a Harcourt Brace anthology of crime fiction, A Matter of Crime. Rosen has reported on West Africa for the Atlantic, on Mexico for the Boston Globe, and writes frequently for the Globe's op-ed page. He has been a radio commentator for the Boston NPR station, WBUR, and taught writing at Tufts University. His awards include the Frank O'Connor Memorial Award, two fellowships from the Artists Foundation, and most recently, a Fellowship in Fiction from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.