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