Joyce Carol Oates

An affluent, upper-class family breaks apart in the late 1980s when scandal and tragedy erupt.

In two related narratives Krista Diehl and Aaron Kruller describe their emotions and opinions about the murder of Aaron's mother, Zoe, each blaming the other person's father for the killing and eventually coming to terms with their obsession over the case and one another.

Nineteen-year-old Skyler Rampike looks back on the ten years since the murder of his younger sister Bliss, a rising figure skater whose unsolved death created a media circus that destroyed his parents' marriage and c

Sixteen-year-old Katya Spiva, working as a nanny for a family in Bayhead Harbor, New Jersey, meets Marcus Kidder, a silver-haired gentleman and author of children's books, and he lures her into his life with his beautiful oceanside home, classical music, and lavish presents, never quite revealing what it really is he wants from her.

Blaming herself for the car accident on the Tappan Zee Bridge that killed her mother, fifteen-year-old Jenna undergoes a difficult physical and emotional recovery.

Fourteen-year-old Frankie relates the events of the year leading up to her mother's mysterious disappearance and her own struggle to discover and accept the truth about her parents' relationship.

The family of Dirk Burnaby, a New York State lawyer representing victims of Love Canal, and his wife, Ariah, whose first husband widowed her on their wedding night by jumping into Niagara Falls, is pulled apart by Dirk's obsession with his case and Ariah's fear that her history will repeat itself.

Reimagines the final days of five major American writers, in a collection of short works written in the subtly nuanced language style of each.