by Norman Rush (1986)
Whether they are Americans, Brits, or a stubborn and suicidally moral Dutchman, Norman Rush's whites are not sure why they are in Botswana. Their uncertainty makes them do odd things. Driven half-mad by the barking of his neighbor's dogs, Carl dips timidly into native witchcraft—only to jump back out at the worst possible moment. Ione briskly pursues a career as a "seducer" ("A seductress was merely someone who was seductive and who might or might not be awarded a victory. But a seducer was a professional"), while her dentist husband fends off the generous advances of an African cook. Funny, sad, and deeply knowing, polished throughout to a diamond glitter, Whites is a magnificent collection of stories.
Donald Barthelme
Simon, a fifty-three-year-old Philadelphia architect, is given a year to do as he wishes. He lives in a bare apartment, thinking back on his life and work. A complex relationship develops when he becomes involved with three younger women.
Molly Keane
Good Behaviour by Molly Keane is an acclaimed literary masterpiece celebrating major critical honors and timeless storytelling.
Joyce Carol Oates
"A novel about class, race, and the horrific, glassy sparkle of urban life, Them chronicles the lives of the Wendalls, a family on the steep edge of poverty in the windy, riotous Detroit slums. Loretta, beautiful and dreamy and full of regret by age sixteen, and her two children, Maureen and Jules, make up Oates' vision of the American family - broken, marginal, and romantically proud. The novel's title refers to those Americans who inhabit the outskirts of society - men and women, mothers and children - whose lives many authors in the 1960s had left unexamined."--BOOK JACKET.
J. M. Coetzee
In the Heart of the Country is a celebrated work by J. M. Coetzee (Nobel Laureate, Double Booker Prize Winner), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.