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,...

Picturing Will, the widely acclaimed new novel by Ann Beattie, unravels the complexities of a postmodern family. There's Will, a curious five-year-old who listens to the heartbeat of a plant through his toy stethoscope; Jody, his mother, a photographer poised on the threshold of celebrity; Mel, Jody's perfect -- perhaps too perfect -- lover; and Wayne, the father who left Will without warning and now sees his infrequent visits as a crimp in his bedhopping....

A dazzling new collection from award-winning author Ann Beattie - featuring recent O. Henry, Pushcart, and Best American Short Story selections. Ann Beattie's first book, Distortions, was published more than forty years ago, but her writing is as fresh, funny, and relevant as ever. He astutely observed new collection explores unconventional friendships, frustrated loves, aging, and mortality. In The Accomplished Guest, people pay visits or receive...