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Una de las grandes novelas de «la autora que con más ambición ha retratado la vida americana del último medio siglo» (Berna González Harbour, El País), «todo un clásico sobre el que aletea el Nobel» (Elena Hevia, El Periódico de Catalunya) y ganadora de, entre otros, el National Book Award, el PEN/Malamud Award, el Prix Fémina Étranger y, en España, los premios BBK Ja! Bilbao y Pepe Carvalho. Ariah Erskine se despierta el 12 de junio de 1950 entre mullidas almohadas, toallas bordadas y el suave arrullo de las cataratas del Niágara, donde se ubica su hotel. Es el primer día de lo que espera que sea una magnífica luna de miel con su marido. Pero al otro lado de la cama solo encuentra un lugar vacío. Tras unos días de afanosa búsqueda, la joven acepta que es ahora la viuda de un suicida y trata de rehacer su vida. Hallará consuelo en Dirk Burnaby, que se convertirá en su segundo marido, y se establecerá con él en una casa cerca de las cataratas. Con el nacimiento de sus tres hijos, el retrato de familia feliz parece estar al completo, pero las aguas del Niágara aún no se han calmado y, con el tiempo, volverán a reclamar a sus víctimas. Una novela «poderosa, llena de compasión y de humor triste [que es] otro ejemplo de la inagotable brillantez de Oates» (BookPage), por «la autora que con más ambición ha retratado la vida americana del último medio siglo» (El País). La crítica ha dicho: «Una de las mejores novelas de la escritora norteamericana, eterna candidata al Nobel, ambientada en un entorno poderoso y bello, pero no exento de peligro». Rafael Fuentes, El Imparcial «Joyce Carol Oates vuelve a demostrar que es una novelista de raza, sin fisuras, que es una candidata seria al premio Nobel y que merece figurar en lugar preferente en nuestras estanterías». Ricardo Martínez Llorca, Zenda «Oates en su mejor forma [...]. La solidez, la deslumbrante ambientación y la simple excelencia de esta novela la convierten en su obra más destacada desde Blonde». PublishersWeekly «Una de sus mejores obras». Vogue «Incluso un lector que se resista a la sensibilidad gótica de Joyce Carol Oates puede maravillarse con Niágara. [...] Su torrencial prosa es una fuerza de la naturaleza». O Magazine «Potente, impactante, sombríamente cautivadora. [...] Escrita de un modo exuberante, gótico contemporáneo con un aire sobrenatural, Niágara combina el melodrama familiar con los problemas medioambientales, para conseguir una de las novelas más logradas de Oates». Boston Herald «Joyce Carol Oates es una de las grandes escritoras de nuestro tiempo». John Gardner «Su mejor novela desde Qué fue de los Mulvaney. [...] Poderosa, llena de compasión y humor trist Niágara es otro ejemplo de la inagotable brillantez de Oates». BookPage «Lo que nos hace volver a Oates es su extraño don para hacer de la página una ventana: algo, juraríamos que la vida misma, ocurre del otro lado». The New York Times BookReview «La autora que con más ambición ha retratado la vida americana del último medio siglo». Berna González Harbour, El País «A sus 86 años, Joyce Carol Oates sigue en plena forma. Tanto en el plano creativo, como acredita su incesante ritmo de publicaciones, como en el físico». Jaime Cedillo, El Cultural «Todo un clásico sobre el que aletea el Nobel». Elena Hevia, El Periódico de Catalunya

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Brighten the Corner Where You Are, A Circle on the Surface, and Purple for Sky comes the first collection of short stories since the Thomas Raddall Award–nominated A Bird on Every Tree. Moving from a worldly insouciance to a reckoning with privilege, the stories in Threshold explore the hypocrisies and contradictions of a world broken by racism, homelessness, and climate change. A woman's grief causes her to see the ghost of her mother in others and in herself; an extended honeymoon cruise has a couple contemplating their gene pools, and their future; and a son's disappearance prompts his parents to study the migratory patterns of herons. From the piazzas of Naples and Palermo to Halifax's urban wilderness, waterways, and backyards, Bruneau writes with characteristic empathy, humour, and linguistic precision. These luminescent stories reach beyond first-world worries toward compassion and hope, human resilience and the resiliency of nature.

From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women's asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the worldIn this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,” as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state—women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir's ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir's primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.Narrated by Silas Weir's eldest son, who has repudiated his father's brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.

La ganadora del National Book Award, cinco veces finalista del Pulitzer y en lista para el Nobel, vuelve con una novela inspirada en la vida del padre de la neurología y sus terribles investigaciones en un psiquiátrico para mujeres del siglo XIX. «Una novela terrorífica y desgarradora basada en hechos reales. [...] ¿Eres débil de corazón? No te acerques». Stephen King «Una pesadilla gótica empapada de sangre». Financial Times En esta historia basada en hechos reales, Joyce Carol Oates sigue los pasos de un médico que en el siglo XIX sometió impunemente gran cantidad de mujeres a terribles experimentos para sus avances científicos. El doctor Silas Weir, conocido a posteriori como el padre de la neurología y de la «ginopsiquiatría», se obsesiona en esta novela con una de sus pacientes, Brigit, una joven sirvienta albina que se convierte en el principal sujeto de sus experimentos y en la semilla de su destrucción. Narrada por el hijo mayor de Weir, que ha repudiado el legado brutal de su padre, Carnicero se asoma al horror al que la comunidad científica ha sometido las mujeres a lo largo de la historia y se pasea por las regiones más oscuras de la psique, mientras trama al mismo tiempo una esperanzadora historia de amor. «[Oates] consigue crear un mundo distinto al nuestro, pero familiar, que hace imposible pasar por alto sus observaciones sobre las naturalezas retorcidas y los actos de violencia aleatorios». Daphne Merkin, The New York Times La crítica ha dicho: «Un texto largo e intenso, de 470 páginas, lleno de capas de lectura, de recovecos, de voces y de historias que conducen a otras historias». Luis Alemany, La Lectura - El Mundo «Una escritora de igual o mayor talento y profundidad que Norman Mailer, John Updike, Gore Vidal o Saul Bellow». Javier Martínez de Pisón, El País «Una novela coral de un personaje y de una época, además de una interesante muestra de cómo la literatura de ficción puede nutrirse de la literatura académica para crear un frente común. [...] Carnicero nos aportará algunas respuestas». Marta Rebón, El Mundo «La escritora no se conforma únicamente con reflejar una semblanza histórica. Ofrece un retrato brutal de la época y de la práctica de la medicina en sus albores y aporta una lúcida y oportuna lectura de género sobre este capítulo infamante de la ciencia. […] Un relato brutal, sincero y honesto que, en ocasiones, parece un relato de terror que no deja indiferente a los lectores». Javier Ors, La Razón «Una crónica brutal. […] Y eso aún da más miedo: saber que esta ficción perturbadora relata fielmente algo que pasó de verdad». Eva Coscullela, ABC «Vuelve la gran escritora norteamericana con una tan dura como fascinante novela. [...] Joyce Carol Oates nos sumerge en mundos oscuros, violentos, muy inquietantes, donde se revela que no es la bondad lo que prevalece en el ser humano». Adrián Sanmartín, El Imparcial «Solo una escritora como Joyce Carol puede traernos el horror de una violencia enraizada en la ciencia. Ese horror cargado de verdades irrefutables que pesa como una condena perpetua. Y duele. Duele mucho. Y se enquista en tus tripas». Pilar Manzanares, Esquire «Deliciosamente ácida [...]. La crítica mordaz de Oates al tratamiento físico y psicológico de las mujeres por parte de la clase médica constituye una lectura compulsiva. [...] Una ingeniosa novela gótica». Publishers Weekly

In Carol Hoenig's previous novel, Without Grace, it is believed that Grace Finley walked out on her husband and two young children to fulfill a selfish dream of becoming a famous singer, leaving behind rumors and questions among her family and townsfolk in the mountains of Upstate New York.Now in Before She Was a Finley, it is years later when Adele, a reluctant young journalism student is assigned to “get” a story from a local nursing home where she comes across elderly Grace Finley. Over time, Grace slowly takes Adele back to the 1930s and subsequent years that follow as she provides bits and pieces that eventually reveal the dark truth as to why she walked out on her family carrying only a guitar and suitcase. Adele knows that the class assignment was simply to write about a local person, and even though journalists aren't supposed to be a part of the story, she cannot shake what she discovered and wants to do more to set the record straight. But is there anyone still alive who would care?In reviewing Without Grace, North Country Public Radio said, “We need more North Country novels like Without Grace, novels with a keen sense of place. Before She was a Finley answers that call.

From Joyce Carol Oates, one of America's most feted and critically acclaimed authors, a collection of mysterious, suspenseful and macabre tales.In her inimitable style, Oates takes the reader on unsettling journeys through the modern American psyche. Here you will find tales of loss and grief, confusion and darkness; of violent ends and the cruel march of time; of failed relationships, family secrets, and professional jealousy; of deceitful lovers, distant spouses, and those with murder in mind. Dark secrets or their own consciences impact Oates'characters as she moves between small American towns and anonymous urban sprawls, between the courtroom, the hospital, the world of academia, and the wilderness of upstate New York with deft skill in this tantalising collection of the macabre and mysterious, the suspenseful and the sublime.'[A] literary goddess.'Daily Mail

December, 1963: widowed cafe owner Stella Madigan, with her two young children Fran and Theo, and the free-spirited artist Mardi Rose, embark on a road trip to Byron Bay. But a night spent in the tiny outback town of Temperance will alter all their lives, and ignite a chain of events the children will struggle to both conceal and resolve, long into adulthood.

Zero-sum games are played for lethal stakes in these arresting stories by one of America's most acclaimed writers, the award-winning, best-selling author of BlondeA brilliant young philosophy student bent on seducing her famous philosopher-mentor finds herself outmaneuvered; diabolically clever high school girls wreak a particularly apt sort of vengeance on sexual predators in their community; a woman stalked by a would-be killer may be confiding in the wrong former lover; a young woman is morbidly obsessed by her unfamiliar new role as “mother.” In the collection's longest story, a much-praised cutting-edge writer cruelly experiments with “drafts” of his own suicide.In these powerfully wrought stories that hold a mirror up to our time, Joyce Carol Oates has created a world of erotic obsession, thwarted idealism, and ever-shifting identities. Provocative and stunning, Zero-Sum reinforces Oates's standing as a literary treasure and an artist of the mysterious interior life.

De volta à peculiar casa modernista onde cresceu, Alice revive a tragédia que marcou sua adolescência. Numa pequena cidade, as irmãs Lina e Titi veem sua rotina ser transformada por uma misteriosa construção. Num decadente hotel serrano, Clara sonha em se tornar escritora enquanto precisa manter o emprego atuando como Capitão Capivara. Nessas três histórias, personagens encaram com sarcasmo e delicadeza as suas desilusões, revelando o lado melancólico da juventude. Com elas, testemunhamos o surgimento de Carol Bensimon, que já revelava o talento que a colocou entre os principais nomes da literatura brasileira contemporânea.

«Atemporal, monumental y brillante» (Star Tribune): la nueva novela de la «eterna candidata al Premio Nobel» (El Periódico de Catalunya). John Earle McLaren, «Whitey», un hombre afable de sesenta y siete años y que durante un tiempo fue el popular alcalde de Hammond, presencia un altercado entre la policía y un joven de tez oscura al que han detenido sin motivo aparente. Tras verse moralmente obligado a intervenir, los dos agentes se ensañan brutalmente con él. Las consecuencias de este enfrentamiento abren la puerta a una realidad bastante más oscura dentro de la familia McLaren, cuyos cinco hijos afrontarán el duelo revelando sus prejuicios, rencores e inseguridades: desde el desdén racista hacia la nueva pareja de la madre hasta las estrategias sibilinas para asegurarse la mayor parte de la herencia. Bajo una fachada de respetabilidad se esconden unos cimientos podridos que pueden hacer que la casa familiar acabe por derrumbarse. «La escritora más sólida, ingeniosa, brillante, curiosa y creativa del momento» (Gillian Flynn) vuelve a la carga con «una de sus novelas más ambiciosas» (The Guardian) hasta la fecha. «Apabullante e hipnótica. […] Una novela ambiciosa, torrencial, inquietante, que no dejará indiferente a quien se aventure en sus casi ochocientas páginas». Juan Gaitán, La Nueva España «Magistral. [...] Oates nos hace sentir la experiencia en toda su crudeza. No te arrepentirás de meterlo en la maleta». Elena Méndez, La Voz de Asturias «Joyce Carol Oates es leyenda viva de la literatura internacional». Irene Crespo, Mujer Hoy «Una brillante radiografía social. [...] Una novela apabullante e hipnótica». Juan Gaitán, El Periódico de España «Atemporal, monumental y brillante [...]. Esta novela merece estar en lo alto de tu mesilla de noche». Star Tribune «Urgente, temeraria, torrencial. Oates escribe como una mujer que se adentra en una región salvaje sin mirar atrás. [...] Una novela inquietante [...] en plena conversación con el momento actual». The New York Times Book Review «Una incómoda instantánea de la América actual. [...] Una de sus novelas más ambiciosas con mucho de lo que disfrutar, desde su ritmo ágil hasta sus exuberantes decorados». The Guardian «Con prosa precisa y segura de sí misma que casi parece investigación poética, Oates mantiene la atención del lector a lo largo de esta extensa narración». Publishers Weekly «Oates sondea a conciencia las profundidades del duelo de cada miembro de la familia, pero su perspicaz estudio de la viudedad de Jessalyn destaca por encima del resto, en un impresionante y apasionado retrato de su angustioso periplo vital». Booklist, starred review «La escritora más sólida, ingeniosa, brillante, curiosa y creativa del momento». Gillian Flynn «Una adelantada a su tiempo y una suerte de baluarte moral contra la intolerancia y el miedo». Nuria Azancot, El Cultural «La prosa de Oates contiene una profunda crueldad que se cierne entre la esperanza, la desesperación y el amor». The Guardian «Novelistas como John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe y Norman Mailer han luchado a brazo partido por el título de Gran Novelista Americano. Pero quizás se equivocan. Puede que ese título pertenezca a una mujer». The Herald «Una denuncia acertada y vergonzosa [...] en acertada sintonía con el momento. [...] Y demasiado indulgente. Sin un cambio radical no habrá justicia ni paz». Bret Anthony Johnson, The New York Times Book Review

Combining psychological suspense with elements of the ghost story, Shadow Girls is a literary exploration of girlhood by the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Jamrach's Menagerie. Manchester, 1960s. Sally, a cynical fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, is much too clever for her own good. When partnered with her best friend, Pamela – a mouthy girl who no-one else much likes – Sally is unable to resist the temptation of rebellion. The pair play truant, explore forbidden areas of the old school and – their favourite – torment posh Sylvia Rose, with her pristine uniform and her beautiful voice that wins every singing prize.One day, Sally ventures (unauthorised, of course) up to the greenhouse on the roof alone. Or at least she thinks she's alone, until she sees Sylvia on the roof too. Sally hurries downstairs, afraid of Sylvia snitching, but Sylvia appears to be there as well.Amidst the resurgence of ghost stories and superstition among the girls, a tragedy is about to occur, one that will send Sally further and further down an uncanny rabbit hole...Praise for Shadow Girls:'A terrific evocation of a bygone Manchester girlhood, poignant and creepy by turns, by one of the most under-rated writers in England'D.J. Taylor'Compulsively readable, Shadow Girls is an atmospheric, shape-shifting novel, part coming-of-age, part supernatural thriller. Birch renders the atmosphere of the sixties impeccably, and conveys most brilliantly the taut, complicated relationships between teenage girls with all their neediness, bravado and gullibility'Lesley Glaister

On one terrifying night in France, a mother searches for her daughter—and meets a woman with a story of her own to tell: “A gripping tale.” —Sunday Post After her teenage daughter, Lizzie, disappeared four years ago, Kurtiz Ross's life—and marriage—fell apart. After all this time, it's difficult to be optimistic. But an unexpected sighting has brought Kurtiz to Paris, where she waits anxiously for her ex-husband to arrive with Lizzie in tow—until the city erupts in chaos. Terrorists have struck a theater, a stadium, and other spots crowded with Friday night revelers. In the midst of the emergency, an older woman reaches out to Kurtiz, keeping her distracted with a story from her own troubled past in postwar Provence. As her heart veers wildly between hope and horror, Kurtiz learns that some things—like the necessity of courage—are the same in any era... “A story to savour, complete with wonderful settings stretching from Paris... to the glorious countryside of southern France.” —Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife “A great and compassionate writer.” —The Guardian “Mesmerising, haunting and extraordinarily relevant.” —Lovereading

A woman's peaceful life in a clifftop French villa is threatened by the past: “Threaded with mystery and menace... the story kept me gripped.” —Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author As an adventurous teenager, Grace came to France amid the student protests and upheavals of 1968—and became involved in relationships with two men, one tempestuous, the other gentle and supportive. But the romantic triangle came to an end when one of the men died by drowning. Decades later, Grace remains in her adopted country, living happily with her husband, Peter, in a beautiful, secluded home in Provence. Her sole focus is keeping Peter's stress to a minimum while he awaits his upcoming heart surgery. But after all these years, Grace is confronted by a visitor she never expected to see—and must keep her escalating fear hidden from her ailing husband, in this epic, time-spanning story of love and betrayal from the bestselling author. “A beautifully woven and compelling tale of passion, love and intrigue.” —Rowan Coleman, author of We Are All Made of Stars “Carol Drinkwater's writing is like taking an amazing holiday in book form.” —Jenny Colgan, New York Times–bestselling author “Given extra resonance by the beautifully drawn French landscape. Emotional and tenderly written.” —Elizabeth Buchan, author of Consider the Lily

“Secrets, tragedy, hidden pasts and family secrets all set in glorious Provence—I loved this.” —Santa Montefiore, bestselling author of The French Gardener Clarisse Cambon is devastated when the family vineyard's annual harvest is ruined by an accident—and furious at her daughter-in-law, Jane, who she's sure is responsible. Jane's longtime feud with her mother-in-law is rooted in a secret they both keep from Luc—Jane's husband and Clarisse's son. When tragedy strikes, Jane takes over management of the vineyard and, beset by doubts and questions, begins to look into Luc's past to understand what he may have kept hidden from her—and what Clarisse may know... An atmospheric tale of forbidden fruit, family secrets, and enduring through heartbreak from the author of An Act of Love and the beloved Olive Farm series, The Forgotten Summer will “whisk you straight to the South of France” (Marie Claire). “A lovely book... plenty of page-turning drama but also mouthwatering descriptions of Paris and Provence.” —Daily Mail

A young woman haunted by ghosts, magic and long-kept family secrets in a new novel from the author of the Wales Book of the Year 2021 shortlisted, WILD SPINNING GIRLS. I give you fair warning, if you're planning on lying to me, don't look me in the eye. It's May's 17th birthday – making the air tingle with a tension she doesn't fully understand. But she knows her mother and her aunt are being evasive; secrets are being kept.Like her grandmother before her, May has her own magic: the bees whisper to her as they hover in the garden... the ghosts chatter in the graveyard. And she can't be fooled by a lie. She becomes determind to find out what is being kept from her. But when May starts to uncover her own story, she threatens to bring her mother and aunt's carefully constructed family to the edge of destruction...

Fans of Bridgerton will love this'exuberant novel of manners for our own gilded age'(Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra) as we follow the Wilcox family's journey through riches and ruin.Among New York City's Gilded Age elite, one family will defy convention.Helen Wilcox has one desire: to successfully launch her daughters into society. From the upper crust herself, Helen's unconventional--if happy--marriage has made the girls'social position precarious. Then her husband gambles the family fortunes on an elevated railroad that he claims will transform the face of the city and the way the people of New York live, but will it ruin the Wilcoxes first? As daughters Jemima and Alice navigate the rise and fall of their family--each is forced to re-examine who she is, and even who she is meant to love.From the author of To Marry an English Lord, an inspiration for Downton Abbey, comes a charming and cutthroat tale of a world in which an invitation or an avoided glance can be the difference between fortune and ruin.

Átlagos amerikai lány volt, aki addig sohasem látott hatású legendává vált. Milliók imádták, és az élete a rajongók és művésztársak generációit varázsolta el. A Marilyn Monroe művésznéven jobban ismert Norma Jeane Baker életét évtizedek óta kutatják és dolgozzák fel, de mindeddig még egyetlenegyszer sem mesélték el olyan lélegzetelállító és eredeti módon, mint a Szöszi-ben. A kortárs amerikai irodalom legjelesebb alakjai között számontartott és Magyarországon is jól ismert Joyce Carol Oates eddigi legnagyobb szabású művében újraértelmezi Norma Jeane Bakernek (a gyermeknek, a nőnek és a nehéz sorsú hírességnek) a legbensőbb lírai és szellemi életét, hogy annak bámulatos, gazdag és megrázó hangján mesélje el. Norma Jane legintimebb portréja egy törékeny, egyedi tehetséggel megáldott fiatal nőt állít elénk, aki folyamatosan újrateremti saját magát, hogy a nyomasztó esélyek ellenére képes legyen a felszínen maradni és magának a sztárságnak a jelképévé váljon. Lépésről lépésre haladva vezet be minket a saját történetébe, és meséli el, hogyan tévesztett utat egy folyamatos konfliktusok között élő, lázasan alkotó jellegzetesen amerikai művész. Az életrajzi és történelmi forrásokra támaszkodó szerző megidézi a női lélek legbensőbb világát és kíméletlen tükröt tart a mítosz elé, mindeközben pedig úgy ír, ahogy eddig még sohasem: extatikus állapotban, átadva magát a témának, úgy, mintha rendkívüli hősének a lelke költözött volna belé.

From literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde, now a major motion picture, comes a brand new collection of haunting and, at times, darkly humorous mystery and suspense stories. These are tales of psyches pushed to their limits by the expectations of everyday life – from a woman who gets lost on her drive back to her plush suburban home and ends up breaking into a stranger's house, to a first-person account of a cloned 1940s magazine pinup girl being sold at auction and embodying America's ideals of beauty and womanhood.Taken as a whole, the collection forms a poignant tapestry of regular people searching for their place in a social hierarchy, often with devastating and disastrous results. Rendered with stylish, fresh writing from an author who continues to push the envelope, the stories deftly weave in and out of a stream-of-consciousness to reflect the ways we process traumatic experiences and impart that uncertainty and uneasiness to the reader. The stories comprising Night, Neon showcase Oates'mastery of the suspense story and her relentless use of the form to conduct unapologetically honest explorations of American identity.'Embracing the twists and turns of everyday American life, the author's latest short story collection is playful, gripping and disturbing.'GuardianReviews for Joyce Carol Oates:'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.'Sunday Express'Both haunting and sublime.'Literary Review'Splendidly chilling.'Financial Times'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.'Booklist

A collection of twenty-two disturbing tales of crime and suspense from literary icon Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde and'America's preeminent fiction writer'(New Yorker).Two hitmen in a depressed rust belt town struggle with a job gone wrong. A girl witnesses a horrifying accident and carries it with her for the rest of her life. Medical students bring a severed foot to a college party. Five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates has made a career of exploring the forbidden corners of human experience, and the stories collected here, spanning her first three decades as a writer, are among her most unsettling and unforgettable works to date.Originally published in long out-of-print volumes, these tales have not appeared in any form this century – until now. They show a writer boldly engaging with disturbing truths and terrifying possibilities, and deconstructing the tropes and expectations of traditional prose writing as she does so. But beyond their stylistic ingenuity, these are creepy, suspenseful stories that cut straight to the bone; their darkness will linger long after the final page is turned.A must-read for long-time fans of Joyce Carol Oates and an excellent introduction for the uninitiated.Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates:'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.'Sunday Express'Both haunting and sublime.'Literary Review'Splendidly chilling.'Financial Times'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.'Booklist

A powerful reckoning over the people we might have been if we'd chosen a different path, from a master of the short storyIn this stirring, reflective collection of short stories, Joyce Carol Oates ponders alternate destinies: the other lives we might have led if we'd made different choices. An accomplished writer returns to her childhood home of Yewville, but the homecoming stirs troubled thoughts about the person she might have been if she'd never left. A man in prison contemplates the gravity of his irreversible act. A student's affair with a professor results in a pregnancy that alters the course of her life forever. Even the experience of reading is investigated as one that can create a profound transformation: “You could enter another time, the time of the book.”The (Other) You is an arresting and incisive vision into these alternative realities, a collection that ponders the constraints we all face given the circumstances of our birth and our temperaments, and that examines the competing pressures and expectations on women in particular. Finely attuned to the nuances of our social and psychic selves, Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates here why she remains one of our most celebrated and relevant literary figures.

New York Times bestselling author Carol Edgarian delivers “an all-encompassing and enthralling” (Oprah Daily) novel featuring an unforgettable heroine coming of age in the aftermath of catastrophe, and her quest for love and reinvention.Meet Vera Johnson, fifteen-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco's most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—the madam's alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen, and scant morality, and the quiet domestic life of the family paid to raise her. On the morning of the great quake, Vera's worlds collide. As the city burns and looters vie with the injured, orphaned, and starving, Vera and her guileless sister, Pie, are cast adrift. Disregarding societal norms and prejudices, Vera begins to imagine a new kind of life. She collaborates with Tan, her former rival, and forges an unlikely family of survivors, navigating through the disaster together. “A character-driven novel about family, power, and loyalty, (San Francisco Chronicle), Vera brings to life legendary characters—tenor Enrico Caruso, indicted mayor Eugene Schmitz and boss Abe Ruef, tabloid celebrity Alma Spreckels. This “brilliantly conceived and beautifully realized” (Booklist, starred review) tale of improbable outcomes and alliances takes hold from the first page, with remarkable scenes of devastation, renewal, and joy. Vera celebrates the audacious fortitude of its young heroine, who discovers an unexpected strength in unprecedented times.

Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, this is a brilliant and timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind from Booker-shortlisted author Carol Birch. Did you hear? Big landslip over by Ercol. Last night. The road into Gully's closed off. They found a body. Got police tape. All that stuff. They only do that for murder, don't they? Murder! A body has been uncovered in a mudslide just outside the village of Andwiston. In the pub they talk of murder, but Dan – sometime mechanic, constant drunk – is finding it hard to sift through his jumbled memories. Watching him from the dark is Lorna, a lost soul living in the woods, haunted by ghosts and a vision from her childhood: a cold boy standing alone in Gallinger's field.Fusing the ghost story with sharp, psychological insight, Cold Boy's Wood is an arresting, timely novel about loneliness, buried secrets and the havoc they play on the mind.'A naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion'Guardian'A haunting murder mystery, Cold Boy's Wood is also a double portrait of damaged souls'Sunday Times Crime Club'Fusing the supernatural with the psychological, Birch's story is, at its heart, a human one'Big Issue'Her prose has an irresistible vigour... Her words sing on the page'Financial Times

Laúltimanovela de la granescritoraamericana denuestrosdías. Unahistoriavigorosasobre lafamilia,susexpectativas y la ineludiblenecesidad de romper conella. UNO DE LOS MEJORES LIBROS DE 2021 SEGÚN GQ «La violencia del mundo de Oates es excesiva porque se parece mucho a la nuestra». The New York Times «Una adelantada a su tiempo y una suerte de baluarte moral contra la intolerancia y el miedo». Nuria Azancot,El Cultural ¿Qué debería prevalecer: la lealtad familiar o la lealtad a la verdad? ¿Alguna vez es un error decir la verdad, hay algún momento en que mentir a la familia esté justificado? ¿Se puede hacer lo correcto y que toda la vida nos lamentemos por ello? Delatora está protagonizada por Violet Rue Kerrigan, una joven que recuerda su vida después de que, con doce años, ofreciera su testimonio sobre el asesinato racista de un niño afroamericano por parte de sus hermanos mayores y la apartasen de su familia. En una sucesión de episodios recordados de un modo casi palpable, Violet analiza las circunstancias de su vida como la menor de siete hermanos, una niña en su momento querida, que inadvertidamente «delata» a sus hermanos, dando pie a su arresto, su condena y a su propio distanciamiento. Esta conmovedora novela dibuja una vida de destierro —destierro respecto a los padres, a los hermanos, a la Iglesia— que obliga a Violet a reconstruir su propia identidad, romper el poderoso embrujo de la familia. Un largo exilio como «delatora» para llegar a una vida transformada. La crítica ha dicho... «Un clásico de la literatura mundial [que ahora] relata la vida como una mujer que se adentra en una región salvaje sin mirar atrás. [Delatora] es tan íntima como colectiva. Un relato conmovedor». Gema Veiga «Su prosa torrencial te atrapa en esta trama laberíntica y ya no te suelta. Su imaginación oscura nos lleva por un camino de misoginia y desigualdad en el que no faltan la violación y el asesinato. Y no hay marcha atrás. Una vez que entras, llegas hasta el final. Aunque te quedes sin aliento». Elena Méndez, La Voz de Galicia «Joyce Carol Oates no ha ablandado su protesta contra el racismo impune y estructural de la sociedad norteamericana, contra el machismo rampante, contra el abuso rutinario del más fuerte, el más rico o el más poderoso en nuestras sociedades autoengañadas». Domingo Ródenas de Moya, El Periódico «Un relato conmovedor que traza con maestría toda una vida de destierro y reconstrucción. [...] Tan perturbador como hermoso, torrencial en ocasiones, el mundo de Oates es trasgresión y crueldad. [...] Un libro que todo amante de la buena literatura debería sin duda leer». Verónica Garcia-Peña, El Comercio «Nadie como ella ha sabido ir tantas veces al pozo de la sociedad estadounidense y extraer en cada ocasión un agua singular y distinta y siempre arraigada en el gran caleidoscopio que es el mundo americano». Francisco Recio, La Opinión de Málaga «La prosa clara y efectiva de Joyce Carol Oates nos muestra la violencia como un impacto, una trasgresión, una explosión de la propia existencia, una evidencia vital que, muchas veces, no tiene nada que ver con lo justo o lo importante sino con el azar y el deseo, la frustración y la imposibilidad de comunicación entre nosotros. [...] Sus libros, nos permiten mirar desde la víctima y desde el agresor». Carlos Zanón

A NOVEL OF LOVE AND LOSS FROM BESTSELLING AND PRIZEWINNING AUTHOR JOYCE CAROL OATESAmid a starkly beautiful but uncanny landscape in New Mexico, a married couple from Cambridge, MA takes residency at a distinguished academic institute. When the husband is stricken with a mysterious illness, misdiagnosed at first, their lives are uprooted and husband and wife each embarks upon a nightmare journey. At thirty-seven, Michaela faces the terrifying prospect of widowhood - and the loss of Gerard, whose identity has greatly shaped her own. In vividly depicted scenes of escalating suspense, Michaela cares desperately for Gerard in his final days as she comes to realize that her love for her husband, however fierce and selfless, is not enough to save him and that his death is beyond her comprehension. A love that refuses to be surrendered at death—is this the blessing of a unique married love, or a curse that must be exorcized? Part intimately detailed love story, part horror story rooted in real life, BREATHE is an exploration of hauntedness rooted in the domesticity of marital love, as well as our determination both to be faithful to the beloved and to survive the trauma of loss.

From Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of BLONDE, now a major motion picture, come four psychologically daring and chillingly suspenseful stories where women face threats both past and present.A Pennsylvania academic unearths a terrifying trauma from her past after inheriting a house in Cardiff, Maine from a stranger. A lonely pubescent girl befriends a feral cat that protects her from the increasingly aggressive men that surround her.A brilliant but shy college sophomore realizes she is pregnant and, distraught, allows a distinguished visiting professor to take her under his wing. And a widower remarries, but finds his young bride haunted by his dead wife's voice dancing in the wind.'A stylish, suspenseful quartet of novellas tinged with the supernatural.'Daily MailReviews for Joyce Carol Oates:'A writer of extraordinary strengths.'Guardian'Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.'Sunday Express'Both haunting and sublime.'Literary Review'Splendidly chilling.'Financial Times'Visceral, psychologically involving, and socially astute.'Booklist

Violet Rue Kerrigan ha 12 anni ed è la più giovane di una numerosa famiglia proletaria di origini irlandesi che vive a South Niagara, una piccola e tranquilla cittadina nello stato di New York. È la preferita del padre, Jerome, un uomo duro che governa la famiglia con pugno di ferro. Una sera i due fratelli maggiori, Jerome Jr. e Lionel, investono ubriachi un diciassettenne afroamericano, lo colpiscono con una mazza da baseball e lo lasciano agonizzante sul ciglio della strada. Violet sa quello che hanno fatto, ma tutti, persino il prete, le intimano di tacere. Quando Violet, involontariamente, racconterà tutto al preside e alla polizia, portando così all'incriminazione dei fratelli, verrà cacciata di casa perché colpevole di un peccato imperdonabile: ha tradito la sua famiglia. L'esilio a casa di una zia, un'adolescenza difficile tra bullismo, sensi di colpa e abusi porteranno Violet a fare i conti con la sua educazione familiare e con il suo essere donna, fino a scoprire che la violenza può attecchire ovunque e che se vorrà salvarsi, dovrà trovare in se stessa una forza che non sapeva di avere. Joyce Carol Oates scrive un romanzo toccante e implacabile sulla ferocia dei sentimenti, un ritratto impietoso della società americana che racconta, attraverso un personaggio femminile indimenticabile, le emozioni del nostro tempo con la potenza travolgente della grande letteratura Joyce Carol Oates ha ricevuto numerosi importanti riconoscimenti, tra i quali vale la pena ricordare: la National Medal of Humanities, il National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, il National Book Award e il PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. Autrice enormemente prolifica, ha scritto alcune delle opere più significative del nostro tempo, tra le quali: Una brava ragazza, Blonde, I ricchi. Insegna alla Princeton University ed è membro dell'American Academy of Arts and Letters dal 1978.

These two companion novels tell the stories of Jack and Brenda Bowman during a rare time apart in their many years of marriage. In The Husband's Story, Jack is at home coping with domestic crises and two uncouth adolescents while immobilized by self-doubt and questioning his worth as a historian. In The Wife's Story, Brenda, travelling alone for the first time, is in a strange city grappling with an array of emotions and toying with the idea of an affair. Intimate and insightful yet never sentimental, Happenstance is a profound portrait of a marriage, and the differences between the sexes that bring life—and a sense of isolation—into even the most loving of relationships.

A wolf in gentleman's clothing…She might be the making of himAmerican Joe Steton is visiting his estate in England, bringing his straight-talking attitude and rugged manners with him, much to the ton's disapproval! Respectable widow Olivia Shaw offers to smooth his edges and make him an English gentleman, and Joe can't resist such an intriguing instructor. He has wealth and a title—yet how can he give her his heart when his real life is an ocean away?“I liked the development of the relationship between Heath and Clementine.… the sparks between them grew hotter, and I loved seeing them finally give in to them. I was glued to the pages at the end… I laughed out loud at [Clementine's] methods and cheered when they were successful.”—Susan's Reading Blog on The Earl's American Heiress“Fans will be enthralled, enchanted and enraptured.”—RT Book Reviews on A Ranch to Call Home

A Christmas wedding…A forever vow?Faced with losing his ward if he remains unmarried, Isaiah Maxwell must find a bride! With spinsterhood beckoning, Felicia Penneyjons is the perfect candidate for a marriage in name only. Which is all it can ever be, after Isaiah renounced love the Christmas Day his mother left him. But Felicia is getting under his skin and, as Christmas approaches, Isaiah's usually painful memories give way to uncharted desire—for his convenient wife!From Harlequin Historical:Your romantic escape to the past.

“Timely, monumental.... Yet another piercing examination of American culture by the writer this reviewer considers our country's greatest living novelist.... It is brilliant. How blessed we are to have her as a novelist in our chaotic, confusing times. Night is spot on for these times of racial divide, as well as in portraying the fractious family dynamic that many of us know all too well.... Night deserves the top spot on your quarantine nightstand. Here's a fervent salute to Oates, our finest American novelist, for this one.” -- Star TribuneThe bonds of family are tested in the wake of a profound tragedy, providing a look at the darker side of our society by one of our most enduringly popular and important writersNight Sleep Death The Stars is a gripping examination of contemporary America through the prism of a family tragedy: when a powerful parent dies, each of his adult children reacts in startling and unexpected ways, and his grieving widow in the most surprising way of all.Stark and penetrating, Joyce Carol Oates's latest novel is a vivid exploration of race, psychological trauma, class warfare, grief, and eventual healing, as well as an intimate family novel in the tradition of the author's bestselling We Were the Mulvaneys.

Mary Swann is the story of four individuals who become entwined in the life of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet whose authentic and unique voice is discovered only hours before her husband brutally murders her. Who is Mary Swann? And how could she have produced these works of genius in almost complete isolation? Mysteriously, all traces of Swann's existence—her notebook, the first draft of her work, even her photograph—gradually vanish in this engrossing novel exploring the surprising afterlife of a murdered poet. Full of mischief, Mary Swann is a novel about life, death, and the ideas that live on after us.

Widely regarded as a modern classic, The Stone Diaries is the story of one woman's life; that of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman born in Canada in 1905. Beautifully written and deeply compassionate, it follows Daisy's life through marriage, widowhood, motherhood, and old age, as she charts her own path alongside that of an unsettled century. A subtle but affective portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life, this multi-award winning story deals with everyday issues of existence with an extraordinary vibrancy and irresistible flair.

A celebration of love in its many guises, The Republic of Love recounts the heartfelt tale of two of life's unlucky lovers: Fay, a folklorist whose passion for mermaids has kept her from focusing on any one man; and, right across the street, Tom, a popular radio talk-show host who's been through three marriages and divorces in his search for true happiness. Touching and ironic, The Republic of Love flies the flag for ordinary love between ordinary people.

For the first time since he'd left the island he thought of the starlings massed at dusk in the winter trees behind the children's home. He remembered the rustle of their wings when they twisted in skeins over the fields, or swelled and contracted high above the cliffs, dark wave after dark wave, lifting and falling in a kind of dance. Sister Lucy had said it was a murmuration. He was still quite young, and he had thought the birds were showing him a sign, that there was something written in their fluid patterns. Lives merge and diverge; they soar and plunge, or come to rest in impenetrable silence. Erris Cleary's absence haunts the pages of this exquisite novella, a woman who complicates other lives yet confers unexpected blessings. Fly far, be free, urges Erris. Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice? Among the sudden shifts and swings, the swerving flight paths taken, something hidden must be uncovered, something dark and rotten, even evil, which has masqueraded as normality. In the end it will be a writer's task to reclaim Erris, to bear witness, to sound in fiction the one true note that will crack the silence.

Four brand-new novellas by the #1 New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning “grand mistress of ghoulishness” (Publishers Weekly).An academic in Pennsylvania discovers a terrifying trauma from her past after inheriting a house in Cardiff, Maine from someone she has never heard of. A pubescent girl, overcome with loneliness, befriends a feral cat that becomes her protector from the increasingly aggressive males that surround her. A brilliant but shy college sophomore is distraught to discover that she's pregnant, and the professor who takes her under his wing may not have innocent intentions. And a woman who marries into a family shattered by tragedy finds herself haunted by her predecessor's voice, an inexplicably befouled well, and a compulsive attraction to a garage that took two lives. In these psychologically daring, chillingly suspenseful pieces, the author of We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde writes about women facing threats past and present, once again cementing her reputation for “great intelligence and dead-on imaginative powers” (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

The acclaimed author of Home Schooling returns with a timeless tale of friendship, romance, betrayal, and survival that spans two world wars. In 1927, as Natalia Faber travels from Berlin to Prague with her mother, their train is delayed in Saxon Switzerland. In the brief time the train is idle, Natalia learns the truth about her father—who she believed died during her infancy—and meets a remarkable woman named Dr. Magdalena Schaeffer, whose family will become a significant part of her future. Shaken by these events, Natalia arrives at a spa on the shore of Lake Hevíz in Hungary. Here, she meets Count Miklós Andorján, a journalist and adventurer. The following year, they will marry. Years later, Germany has invaded Russia. When Miklós fails to return from the eastern front, Natalia goes to Prague to wait for him. With a pack of tarot cards, she sets up shop as a fortune teller, and she meets Anna Schaeffer, the daughter of the woman she met decades earlier on that stalled train. The Nazis accuse Natalia of spying, and she is sent to a concentration camp. Though they are separated, her friendship with Anna grows as they fight to survive and to be reunited with their families. “An original and compelling story, told with vivid detail and a richness in setting that I absorbed in one sitting.”—Ellen Keith, bestselling author of The Dutch Wife Praise for Homeschooling “Carol Windley's writing has a unique power, a perfect combination of delicacy, intensity, and fearless imagination.”—Alice Munro “Startlingly lovely.”—Seattle Times

L'incontro sull'Ocean Boulevard di una cittadina balneare del New Jersey tra la diciassettenne Katya Spivak e l'influente artista Marcus Kidder sembra casuale e carico di possibilità per la giovane babysitter. Lui è una delle personalità più in vista della zona, un uomo gentile dai capelli bianchi e dal fascino demodé, e le sue attenzioni verso Katya appaiono innocue e disinteressate. Lei invece, figlia di una famiglia di bassa estrazione sociale e vicina alla criminalità locale, si mostra subito attratta da tutto quello che Marcus può offrirle: una bellissima villa in riva all'oceano, i libri per bambini che ha scritto, la musica classica che le fa ascoltare, i suoi generosi regali. Katya diventa la sua musa. Ma lentamente la tenerezza che all'inizio ammantava il loro rapporto svanisce e tutto cambia. Quali sono le reali intenzioni di Marcus? Perché si interessa a una ragazzina che potrebbe essere sua nipote? Fino a che punto è pronto a spingersi per ottenere quello che vuole? Joyce Carol Oates ci guida con maestria ed eleganza in una storia di ambiguità e illusioni, che trasporta il lettore fin nei lati più scuri e inquietanti dell'animo umano.

Loner James Malloy is a ferry captain—or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a girl named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island's daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored. When he discovers a private golf course staked out across wilderness sacred to his dying best friend, a Narragansett Indian, James is determined to stop such “improvements.” But despite Brenton's nickname as “Cooperation Island,” he's used to working solo. To keep rocky bluffs, historic trees, and ocean shoreline open to all, he'll have to learn to cooperate with other islanders—including Captain Courtney, who might just morph from irritant to irresistible once James learns a secret that's been kept from him for years. This salt-sprayed fourth novel by 2004 Olympic Sailor Carol Newman Cronin celebrates wilderness and water, open space and open-mindedness, and the redemptive power of neighborly cooperation.

But I had known since forever that it's colours that keep the world turning, that keep a person going. One glimpse of the tiny painted house that folk art legend Maud Lewis shared with her husband, Everett, in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, during the mid-twentieth century and the startling contrast between her joyful artwork and her life's deprivations is evident. One glimpse at her photo and you realize, for all her smile's shyness, she must've been one tough cookie. But, beneath her iconic resilience, who was Maud, really? How did she manage, holed up in that one-room house with no running water, married to a miserly man known for his drinking? Was she happy, or was she miserable? Did painting save or make her Everett's meal ticket? And then there are the darker secrets that haunt her story: the loss of her parents, her child, her first love. Against all odds, Maud Lewis rose above these constraints—and this is where you'll find the Maud of Brighten the Corner Where You Are: speaking her mind from beyond the grave, freed of the stigmas of gender, poverty, and disability that marked her life and shaped her art. Unfettered and feisty as can be, she tells her story her way, illuminating the darkest corners of her life. In possession of a voice all her own, Maud demonstrates the agency that hovers within us all.

“A painful truth of family life: the most tender emotions can change in an instant. You think your parents love you but is it you they love, or the child who is theirs?” --Joyce Carol Oates, My Life as a RatWhich should prevail: loyalty to family or loyalty to the truth? Is telling the truth ever a mistake and is lying for one's family ever justified? Can one do the right thing, but bitterly regret it? My Life as a Rat follows Violet Rue Kerrigan, a young woman who looks back upon her life in exile from her family following her testimony, at age twelve, concerning what she knew to be the racist murder of an African-American boy by her older brothers. In a succession of vividly recalled episodes Violet contemplates the circumstances of her life as the initially beloved youngest child of seven Kerrigan children who inadvertently “informs” on her brothers, setting into motion their arrests and convictions and her own long estrangement. Arresting and poignant, My Life as a Rat traces a life of banishment from a family—banishment from parents, siblings, and the Church—that forces Violet to discover her own identity, to break the powerful spell of family, and to emerge from her long exile as a “rat” into a transformed life.

There are too many stories about Indigenous women who go missing or are murdered, and it doesn't seem as though official sources such as government, police or the courts respond in a way that works toward finding justice or even solutions. At least that is the way Wren StrongEagle sees it. Wren is devastated when her twin sister, Raven, mysteriously disappears after the two spend an evening visiting at a local pub. When Wren files a missing persons report with the local police, she is dismissed and becomes convinced the case will not be properly investigated. As she follows media reports, Wren realizes that the same heartbreak she's feeling is the same for too many families, indeed for whole Nations. Something within Wren snaps and she decides to take justice into her own hands. She soon disappears into a darkness, struggling to come to terms with the type of justice she delivers. Throughout her choices, and every step along the way, Wren feels as though she is being guided. But, by what?

“This timely novel takes on friendship, desire, fear, and vulnerability in one incisive, witty, and powerful package.” —People “Astonishes with the force of its unexpected beauty.” —The New York Times Book Review The author of the “graceful and compassionate” (People) New York Times bestseller Carry the One presents a new and long-awaited novel exploring what happens when untested people are put to a hard test, and in its aftermath, find themselves in a newly uncertain world. It's the fall of 2016. Cate, a set designer in her early forties, lives and works in Chicago's theater community. She has stayed too long at the fair and knows it's time to get past her prolonged adolescence and stop taking handouts from her parents. She has a firm plan to get solvent and settled in a serious relationship. She has tentatively started something new even as she's haunted by an old, going-nowhere affair. Her ex-husband, recently booted from his most recent marriage, is currently camped out in Cate's spare bedroom, in thrall to online conspiracy theories, and she's not sure how to help him. Her best friend Neale, a yoga instructor, lives nearby with her son and is Cate's model for what serious adulthood looks like. Only a few blocks away, but in a parallel universe we find Nathan and Irene—casual sociopaths, drug addicts, and small-time criminals. Their world and Cate's intersect the day she comes into Neale's kitchen to find these strangers assaulting her friend. Forced to take fast, spontaneous action, Cate does something she's never even considered. She now also knows the violence she is capable of, as does everyone else in her life, and overnight, their world has changed. Anshaw's flawed, sympathetic, and uncannily familiar characters grapple with their altered relationships and identities against the backdrop of the new Trump presidency and a country waking to a different understanding of itself. Eloquent, moving, and beautifully observed, Right after the Weather is the work of a master of exquisite prose and a wry and compassionate student of the human condition writing at the height of her considerable powers.

An engrossing early novel from Joyce Carol Oates's earlier novels explores a fraught and perilous relationship between two womenOriginally published in 1985, Solstice is the gripping story of Monica Jensen and Sheila Trask, two young women who are complete opposites yet find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. Monica is a shy, modest, and recently divorced school teacher while Sheila is a worldly, sophisticated, and nocturnal painter driven by the needs of her art. Over the months, their friendship deepens, first to love and then to a near-fatal obsession.Engaging, dark, and mysterious, Solstice is Joyce Carol Oates's psychological masterpiece of friendship and fixation.

The stunning, classic portrait of a powerful man's downward spiral to moral ruinJerome'Corky'Corcorn. A money-juggling wheeler dealer, rising politico, popular man's man, and successful womanizer. It is a Memorial Day weekend, and we are about to live with him, breathe with him, and sweat with him in a nonstop marathon of mounting desperation as he tries to keep his financial empire from unraveling, his love life from shredding, and his rebellious daughter from destroying both herself and him. Seldom in fiction has a man been brought so vividly to life in all his strength and weakness, hunger and ambition, carnality and corruption. Rarely has the complex web of American society been revealed so rivetingly. And never has one of today's supreme writers, Joyce Carol Oates, written a bolder and better novel than this mesmerizing masterpiece.

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author, “a compelling domestic horror story” of a new bride haunted by childhood nightmares (Kirkus Reviews). Less than twenty-four hours after exchanging vows with her new husband, Willem, Abby steps out into traffic. As his wife lies in her hospital bed, sleeping in fits and starts, Willem tries to determine whether this was an absentminded accident or a premeditated plunge, and he quickly discovers a mysterious set of clues about what his wife might be hiding. Why, for example is there a rash-like red mark circling her wrist? What does she dream about that causes her to wake from the sound of her own screams? Slowly, Abby begins to open up to her husband, revealing to him what she has never shared with anyone before—a story of a terrified mother; a jealous, drug-addled father; a daughter's terrifying captivity; and the demons behind her terrible recurring dreams of wandering through a field ridden with human skulls and bones… From a recipient of a National Book Award and three Bram Stoker Awards, this suspenseful, twisting tale, named one of the scariest books of the year by Kirkus Reviews, is a “fast-paced examination of the destructive and restorative nature of obsessive love” (Booklist).

A dark yet playful collection of short stories that pushes boundaries and blurs the lines between the real and surreal Girl Zoo is an enthralling and sometimes unsettling collection of short stories that examines how women in society are confined by the limitations and expectations of pop culture, politics, advertising, fashion, myth, and romance. In each story, a woman or girl is literally confined or held captive, and we can only watch as they are transformed into objects of terror and desire, plotting their escape from their cultural cages. Taken as a whole, this experimental speculative fiction invites parallels to social justice movements focused on sexuality and gender, as well as cautionary tales for our precarious political movement. Parkison and Guess offer no solutions to their characters'captivity. Instead, they challenge their audience to read against the grain of conventional feminist dystopian narratives by inviting them inside the “Girl Zoo” itself. Take a step inside the zoo and see for yourself. We dare you. Behind the bars, a world of wonder awaits.

La novela más imaginativa, joven ydistópica de Joyce CarolOates. «Agárrate fuerte: esta es una obra sobrecogedora de principio a fin.» TheGuardian «Una novela memorable.» PublishersWeekly En el Estado rígido y totalitario en el que tiene lugar esta historia, los viajes en el tiempo, tanto como sus peligros, son muy reales. Sin embargo, aquí no son el origen de divertidas aventuras, sino castigos del poder contra individuos subversivos. Individuos como Adriane Strohl, aunque ella nunca hubiese sospechado ser una chica peligrosa. Después dar su discurso de graduación y a modo de «rehabilitación» por Traición y Cuestionamiento de la Autoridad, Adriane es enviada a Wainscotia, una ciudad que solo existía ochenta años antes, en 1959. Pero su idealismo no entiende de saltos temporales y no puede evitar cuestionar los principios que rigen su sociedad, con resultados liberadores... pero también estremecedores. La crítica ha dicho... «Oates tiende a difundir los peligros a la orden del día, y no necesariamente aquellos que es más probable que nos afecten. Hace fotocopias distorsionadas de la mente estadounidense con bandas de moteros, madres psicóticas, sectas, abuso sexual, disturbios raciales, asesinos en serie y strippers que también son asesinos en serie. Por eso, si el país de Riesgos de los viajes en el tiempo se parece mucho a Gilead puede que la culpa sea de Estados Unidos, y no de Atwood.» Jamie Fisher, El Cultural «La escritora norteamericana demuestra que a sus más de ochenta años se sigue manteniendo en plena forma y su literatura no ha perdido un ápice de su brillantez y de poner el dedo en la llaga en asuntos de gran trascendencia. [...] La literatura muchas veces, como en este caso, nos ofrece una tan útil como necesaria advertencia. Y, perfecto, si nos la sirve en una obra de primera.» Adrián Sanmartín, El Imparcial «Esta historia parece estar cargada de los horrores de nuestra época orwelliana.» Independent «La escritura de Oates siempre ha parecido sencilla: urgente, temeraria, torrencial. Escribe como una mujer que se adentra en una región salvaje sin mirar atrás.» The New York Times BookReview «Si sientes que perteneces a otra época, plantéate la posibilidad de que vienes del futuro y de que has sido enviado al pasado a modo de castigo [...]. Esta es una novela extraña y desgarradora.» LosAngelesReview ofBooks «Oates sigue cautivando con su terrible magia oscura.» The Washington Post «Una maestra del diálogo afilado y de las descripciones vibrantes, Oates sigue siendo poderosamente fascinante.» People «La violencia del mundo de Oates es excesiva porque se parece mucho a la nuestra.» The New York Times «Vívida e inquietante. [...] La nueva novela de Oates es da escalofríos.» NewStatesman «Joyce Carol Oates reinventa aquí el género y crea una historia brillante de amor y exilio.» James Gleick «La escritora más sólida, ingeniosa, brillante, curiosa y creativa del momento.» Gillian Flynn «Entre los narradores contemporáneos estadounidenses -y, desde que nos faltan Philip Roth y Toni Morrison, es ella quien manda en la primera línea-, Oates es quien más claramente posee lo que Henry James llamaba'la imaginación para el desastre', una facultad o fragilidad que confiere muy a menudo a sus personajes.» Leo Robson, The New Yorker

New York Times–bestselling author Unavailable for 40 years, this seminal crime novel of madness and murder is a powerful trip into the mind of a maniac—and features a never-before-seen companion novella. “Oates'tale of criminal psychosis draws on the druggy decadence, greed, sexism, and violence of Hollywood in the Charles Manson-Roman Polanski era.” —Booklist Abandoned as a baby in a bus station locker—shuttled from one abusive foster home and detention center to another—Bobbie Gotteson grew up angry, hurting, damaged. His hunger to succeed as a musician brought him across the country to Hollywood, but along with it came his seething rage, his paranoid delusions, and his capacity for acts of shocking violence. Unavailable for 40 years, The Triumph of the Spider Monkey is an eloquent, terrifying, heartbreaking exploration of madness by one of the most acclaimed authors of the past century. This definitive edition for the first time pairs the original novel with a never-before-collected companion novella by Joyce Carol Oates—unseen since its sole publication in a literary journal nearly half a century ago—which examines the impact of Gotteson's killing spree on a woman who survived it, as seen through the eyes of the troubled young man hired by a private detective to surveil her...

A new collection of thirteen mesmerizing stories by American master Joyce Carol Oates, including the 2017 Pushcart Prize–winning “Undocumented Alien”The diverse stories of Beautiful Days, Joyce Carol Oates explore the most secret, intimate, and unacknowledged interior lives of characters not unlike ourselves, who assert their independence in acts of bold and often irrevocable defiance. “Fleuve Bleu” exemplifies the rich sensuousness of Oates's prose as lovers married to other persons vow to establish, in their intimacy, a ruthlessly honest, truth-telling authenticity missing elsewhere in their complicated lives, with unexpected results. In “Big Burnt,” set on lushly rendered Lake George, in the Adirondacks, a cunningly manipulative university professor exploits a too-trusting woman in a way she could never have anticipated. In a more experimental but no less intimate mode, “Les beaux jours” examines the ambiguities of an intensely erotic, exploitative relationship between a “master” artist and his adoring young female model. And the tragic “Undocumented Alien” depicts a young African student enrolled in an American university who is suddenly stripped of his student visa and forced to undergo a terrifying test of courage.In these stories, as elsewhere in her fiction, Joyce Carol Oates exhibits her fascination with the social, psychological, and moral boundaries that govern our behavior—until the hour when they do not.

The latest Ecco reissue of Joyce Carol Oates'early classics: a fiery gothic tale of doomed fates and demons of biblical proportions in rural New York state Nathan Vickery came into the world amid unfortunate circumstances. His mother, Elsa Vickery, daughter of an agnostic small town doctor and his pious wife, was brutally assaulted at the age of seventeen. The son she gave birth to in the wake of this event is brought up by his grandmother as a devoted Christian. At the age of seven, Nathan begins to see visions of Christ and embarks on a path as a prodigy boy-preacher, hurtling toward enlightenment while increasingly falling under the dangerous spell of power. Nathan becomes the leader of an evangelical church, accumulating vast riches from donation. Each year, his visions grow more elaborate and grandiose. When he suddenly feels that God has forsaken him, is it punishment for indulging in the sins of lust, pride, and greed that he has long preached against? Joyce Carol Oates's talent for searing psychological inquiry and her eye for detail as well as her knack for indelible character portrayals and unflinching social commentary are fully on display in Son of the Morning. Fans of her work will be thrilled to see this early novel, the influences of which can be observed in later tour-de-force works like A Book of American Martyrs and The Sacrifice.