Engine Books: 26 books

From the winner of the Nelson Algren Award for Short Fiction comes this indispensable collection spanning nearly four decades of artistic mastery. In these compelling, deftly crafted narratives about fathers and sons, loss and separation, sorrow, comic happenstance, and the vagaries of romantic and...

Author draws on her work as a biologist in depicting frog deformities in the fictional New Jersey town where the characters reside. She also draws on her past work as a journalist; between 1984 and 1989 she wrote an award-winning series of articles about the decline of the oyster farming industry...

Debut novel, author based in New York and well connected within online literary circles. Previously a very active participant in the New York nightlife described in the book, including the secret cabaret. The sibling characters’ medical connection—Andrea was born to provide Delphie with a life-saving bone marrow transplant—provides interest outside the world of fiction.

A sister’s darkest secret is revealed at her brother’s wedding. A woman with extrasensory visions accidentally gives her philandering husband her blessing. A dying mother wishes her cancer was her daughters’, not hers. Pretend I’m Your Friend lays bare the fear, loss, and pain of love, sex, and family life in eleven crisp, engaging, and startlingly funny, elegantly entwined stories.

Clare and her oldest friend from college had been planning this visit for the past three months. But only yesterday, her arms full of towels and pillows, Clare realized that it was too soon for her husband's study to become a guest room. First she needed to talk through her anguish and anger at finding...

The life and nuclear-weapons work of renowned physicist Adam Brooks form the center of an orbit that binds his family and colleagues to him as he struggles to find his place in science, history, and love. In these eight linked stories, searingly brilliant characters fill a world at once fascinating and familiar in its humanity, empathy, and humor.

"A tough, fierce story about not fitting in."-Star Tribune (Minneapolis) When Cheri and Geneva's aunt's death draws them back together after a long separation, forcing them to face their past, the choices that follow will push them beyond boundaries they never thought they'd cross....

"It's clear to me that Courtney Elizabeth Mauk is going to be an important new voice of her generation."-Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply and Stay Awake A postcard arrives straight out of her past, forcing Carrie to confront her commune upbringing alongside Amelia, the almost-sister...

It wasn't Duke Walczak's fault that I took off for Florida, like Kathy thought. The truth is, we started getting sideways with each other on our class trip to New York and Washington D.C. nearly a year earlier—which, looking back, is ironic since she was the one dead set on going. From the...

"I knew kids like Ralph—and they scared me—but none of them had his heart, his humor, or ultimately his entertaining story."—Mitch Albom "McNally's writing is so compelling, not to mention funny, that you're often surprised by sudden, more tender moments."—Sarah...

Richly drawn examination of violence related to schools and teenagers Lyrical, suspenseful storytelling For fans of Matthew Quick's Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and similar novels

That's when I noticed the couple we later named Bony and Mr. Creep sitting two rows in front of us. He had his arm around her, not like a father would do, or like I imagined a father would do—slinging his arm over the back of her chair. No, his arm was around her shoulders like she was his date....