"Jesmyn Ward's universally acclaimed memoir shines a light on the community she comes from, in the small town of DeLisle, Mississippi, a place of quiet beauty and fierce attachment. Here, in the space of four years, she lost five young men dear to her, including her beloved brother--to accidents, murder, and suicide. Their deaths were seemingly unconnected, yet their lives had been connected, by identity and place, and as Jesmyn dealt with these losses,...

A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's family is stocking food--but there isn't much to save. Over twelve days leading up to the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, the family pulls itself up the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty to struggle for another day.

In the Ozarks, what you are is where you are born. If you're born in Venus Holler, you're not much. For Jamalee Merridew, her hair tomato red from her rage and ambition, Venus Holler just won't cut it. Jamalee sees her brother, Jason, blessed with drop-dead gorgeous looks and the local object of female obsession, as her ticket out of town. But Jason may just be gay, and in the hills and hollows of the Ozarks, that is the most dangerous and courageous...

On a poor farm near Starkfield in western Massachusetts, Ethan Frome struggles to wrest a living from the land, unassisted by his whining and hypochondrialcal wife Zeena. Zeena's young cousin Mattie Silver is left destitute, and only place she can go is to Ethan's farm. An embittered man and an enchanting young woman meet in such circumstances, unleashing predictable consequences as passions are aroused between the three protagonists.

Off the easternmost coast of India lies the immense archipelago of tiny islands known as the Sundarbans. Life here is precarious, ruled by the unforgiving tides and the constant threat of attacks by Bengal tigers. Into this place of vengeful beauty come two seekers from different worlds, whose lives collide with tragic consequences. The settlers of the remote Sundarbans believe that anyone without a pure heart who ventures into the watery island labyrinth...

When Lora joins Castro's literacy campaign, she travels into the impoverished countryside to teach her fellow Cuban's to read and write, while sharing the dangers posed by counterrevolutionaries in the hills.

"Three of the nation's top scholars, known for tackling key mysteries about poverty in America, turn their attention from the country's poorest people to its poorest places. Based on a fresh, data-driven approach, they discover that America's most disadvantaged communities are not the big cities that get the most notice. Instead, nearly all are rural. Little if any attention has been paid to these places or to the people who make their lives there....

Ethan is a patient, rough-hewn man tormented by a passionate love for his sickly wife's young cousin, Mattie. Restricted by the bonds of marriage and the fear of public condemnation, his desperate quest for happiness leads ultimately to pain and despair.

Charlotte Miller's debut novel, Behold, This Dreamer, was a regional success story in 2000-2001. She continues now with the second installment of her trilogy exploring romance, culture, and place in the Depression-era Deep South. In the new book, Janson Sanders and his new bride, Elise, have been exiled by her wealthy father and have returned, penniless and landless, to his poor-but-proud relatives in Alabama. There, they struggle to build a life...

Aside from a secret affair with a housewife (Mary Steenburgen), Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) spends his days stocking shelves at a grocery store, caring for his mentally handicapped brother (Leonardo DiCaprio), and holding together a large family headed by Mama, a former beauty queen whose weight tops 500 pounds. But just when Gilbert thinks nothing will ever change, a beautiful stranger (Juliette Lewis) arrives on the scene, capturing his heart. Nominated...