“You will know this thing when you see it,” the Boatman tells Connie, “and you must be finished by half past six.” As she floats above her hometown of Scheepersdorp, Constance West can’t tell how long it’s been since she died. Nor why the mysterious Boatman rowed her back here. Beneath her, all the people she loved appear to be thriving. But the house of her guardian, the town dentist and former mayor, seems suspiciously quiet. And then there is Marianne, the baby daughter she had to leave behind. In Beverly Rycroft’s beautifully crafted novel, a small South African town in 1995 forms the backdrop to Connie’s tale. With honesty, humour and tenderness, Connie unravels the stories of her loved ones, and allows a secret in her own past to emerge.

The life-affirming story of Constance, who floats above her home town after her death from cancer, keeping watch over her loved ones while trying to work out while she's still there. A poignant celebration of living and loving, friendship and motherhood, loss and hope.

"In her second volume of poetry; A Private Audience, Beverly Rycroft navigates the 'echoing counterpoint' of womanhood. Painful family relationships, illness and death are some of the themes if this riveting collection written in sparse, electric verses. The 'voracious memory' is haunting in this commendable work." - JOAN HAMBIDGE

This year's volume, featuring 17 new stories selected by award-winning novelist John Casey, continues the tradition of identifying the best young writers on the cusp of their careers.

From the author of the bestselling novel, Stanley Park, a dazzling collection of short fiction to debut in our new Vintage Tales series. Taylor, whose writing possesses an astonishing range and depth, first came to national attention with his short story writing. This collection includes, among others, his Journey Prize-winning story, “Doves of Townsend,” for which he also won a Silver National Magazine Award, and two other stories from the fall 2000 Journey Prize Anthology.

"Threading the subtle seam between what lives and what remains, A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause succeeds in conjuring the poetry of Marcel Marceau's performance as both a character on stage and in history. . . . Like pulling a ghost from a dark room, this is an accomplished work of historical portraiture: precise in its objects, complex in its melancholy, and insightful in its humor." —Thalia Field Part biographic inquiry, part lyric portraiture, radio producer Shawn Wen reanimates world-renowned mime Marcel Marceau's silent art. The book opens in darkness, a single figure standing in the spotlight. It's Marceau in his signature hat, painted face, black clothes, and ballet slippers. Over time, the text accumulates objects: dolls, paintings, icons, wives, children, cities, and performances. By turns whimsical and melancholic, this spare volume takes shape through capsule histories, interview clips, vivid scenes, and archival research. Shawn Wen is a writer, radio producer, and multimedia artist. Her writing has appeared in The New Inquiry, The Seneca Review, The Iowa Review, The White Review, and the anthology City by City: Dispatches from the American Metropolis (Faber and Faber, 2015). Her radio work broadcasts regularly on This American Life, Freakonomics Radio, and Marketplace. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Ford Foundation Professional Journalism Training Fellowship and the Royce Fellowship.

The runaway New York Times bestseller--over half a million copies in print It happens quietly one hot August morning in Iowa: two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night. Seven-year-old Calli Clark suffers from selective mutism brought on by a tragedy when she was a toddler. Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend--and her voice. But neither girl has been heard from since they vanished. Now, Calli and Petra's parents are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

"Having returned from a worldwide journey to reclaim his wife, Akemi, Midnight returns to Queens, where he hopes to create a new, less tumultuous life with his love. But things fall apart when violence targets his younger sister Naja. Forsaking his usual control, the ninja warrior kills his sister's attacker in cold blood, forcing him on the run and into the only shelter he can find: a seedy money laundering ring whose members are in league with the police. Though Midnight is promised temporary refuge, he's soon recognized for the murder of Naja's attacker, and lands in jail. Separated from his love, his city, and his family, Midnight must cling to his Muslim beliefs to stay strong. But soon enough, he meets Ricky Santiaga, the man who will become his leader and father figure...and perhaps, his only hope" --

From the French Abbey of St Wandrille to the abandoned and awesome Rock Monasteries of Cappadocia in Turkey, the celebrated travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor studies the rigorous contemplative lives of the monks and the timeless beauty of their monastic surroundings. In his occasional retreats, the peaceful solitude and the calm enchantment of the monasteries was passed on as a kind of 'supernatural windfall' which A Time to Keep Silence so effortlessly records.