Tobias Wolff's first two books proved how the short story can "provoke our amazed appreciation" (New York Times Book Review). Now he returns with fresh revelations--about biding one's time, experiencing first love, or burying one's mother--that come to a variety of characters in circumstances at once everyday and extraordinary: a retired Marine enrolled in college while her son trains for Iraq, a lawyer taking a difficult deposition, an American in Rome indulging the Gypsy who's picked his pocket. In this potent new collection, the first in over a decade, Wolff displays his mastery over a quarter century, once again proving himself "a writer of the highest order: part storyteller, part philosopher, someone deeply engaged in asking hard questions that take a lifetime to resolve" (Los Angeles Times).

TOBIAS WOLFF is the author of seven previous books and is the editor of The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories and other anthologies. Among his honors are the PEN/Malamud Award and the Rea Award, both for excellence in the short story, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Award.