Award-winning author Willy Vlautin explores loneliness, art, regret, and hard-won empathy in this poignant novel--his most personal to date--that captures the life of a journeyman musician unable to escape the tragedies of his past. Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife,...

Songwriter Shawn Gallagher claims to be content with his life, but his music tells a different story. Brenna O'Toole, a fiercely independent tomboy who is secretly in love with Gallagher, provides him with the chance to fulfill his destiny as both man and musician.

A man who would later compose some of the world's most beautiful music is shown as a stubborn little boy with a mind of his own.

"In Paris, terror stalks the Opera Garnier. Stories of a terrifying ghost haunting the theatre create panic amongst the musicians and audience. But the ghost is no supernatural phenomenon, but a living, deformed man, Erik, who is hopelessly in love with a promising singer: the beautiful Christine Daaé. When her childhood friend Raoul begins courting her, Erik erupts in jealousy and soon the 'ghost' becomes violent and reckless." -- Publisher's description....