Fleeting moments of fierce clarity are had when the confusion clears and the gray numbness that hangs about our senses draws back, allowing us to see the world and ourselves with sharp relief. Follow author and New England native L.M. Browning in her wanderings across the Northeast, from the solitude of her home along the shore of Connecticut, to the rushing city streets of Boston, to the tall-pine landscape of Arcadia Park in Rhode Island to the quiet edges of Walden Pond.

Mark Doty's prose has been hailed as "tempered and tough, sorrowing and serene" (The New York Times Book Review) and "achingly beautiful" (The Boston Globe). In Still Life with Oysters and Lemon he offers a stunning exploration of our attachment to ordinary things-how we invest objects with human store, and why.

The novel is set in Australia and the USA. Ursula, a German-born, had finally fulfilled her lifelong dreamwatching the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. Her beloved husband had died two years ago, but maybe it was time for Ursula to make a fresh start, so she set out to the USA. However, there was a pleasant surprise in storethe tall and handsome Gary. She met him on the day of the Kentucky Derby. From his gentlemanly behavior to his love of horses and gambling, he seemed an ideal match. Gary stirred feelings inside her that she thought were gone forever. When Gary suggested she spend time with him in Reno, she readily agreed. Their mutual attraction turned into a very steamy sexual affair with deep feelings for one another. When Gary asked her to come and live with him in San Diego, it seemed like a dream come true. Sadly, an operation changed all that, and Ursula returned to her home in Australia. Ursula did all she could to get over her feelings for Gary. She started writing again, and she met someone new. Then unexpectedly, Gary came back into the picture. Could Ursula believe his promises this time round? This is a romantic, passionate story about a love beset by challenges.

One single moment changes everythingIn one breath, you can have it allA split-second later, it can all disappearVanished foreverThat was meI had it allThen in a cruel twist of fate, it was taken from meA beautiful life gone in a flashBut he was thereHe was there to pick me up when I fellTo protect meMy savior. My rock. He was just a strangerJust a selfless stranger with a face I'll never forgetCan't forgetWon't forgetAnd like everything else, he just disappearedAs if he never existed I have to find himI need to find him He has to know that he saved meHe has to know that in that one fleeting moment, he was all I could see