Sent to stay with their uncle in a ship-like home called Drift House, twelve-year-old Susan and her two younger stepbrothers embark on an unexpected adventure involving duplicitous mermaids, pirates, and an attempt to stop time forever.

Moving from Long Island to Kansas after his mother dies, a teenaged boy nicknamed Sprout is surprised to find new friends, a fascinating landscape, and romantic love.

In this auspicious debut, Dale Peck weaves together two sets of stories to create a compelling portrait of an artist in our time. The first is told episodically by John, who flees an abusive father and becomes a hustler in New York City. It's 1982, and at the age of nineteen John falls in love with Martin, who soon becomes ill with AIDS. They leave New York for Kansas, where Martin dies two years later. In his struggle to regain his own health, John...