Ann Beattie

A man who attended a prestigious New England boarding school has his life turned upside down by the reappearance in his life of an enigmatic and brilliant but difficult former teacher who makes him question everything he knows.

This is about more than geographical location of Maine, and certainly is not a picture postcard of the coastal state. Some characters have arrived by accident, others are trying to get out. The collection opens, closes, and is interlaced with stories that focus on Jocelyn, a wryly disaffected teenager living with her aunt and uncle while attending summer school. As in life, the narratives of other characters interrupt Jocelyn's, sometimes challenging,...