Still struggling nine years after his wife’s death in a swimming accident, a soon-to-be-retired philosophy professor becomes lost in the memories of their relationship in the new novel by the best-selling author of Sunset Park.

You'd think, now that she's off the hook for murder, that Alison, an English professor at a cushy college campus just north of chaotic New York City, would be able to relax. But how can she, with a wedding in the works? A Ph.D can only go so far… The recently-divorced Alison couldn't be happier for her best friend, the bride Max. The problem is with the groom. Namely, his best man: the stunningly handsome yet technically married NYPD homicide...

Sometimes those who have the most seem bent on throwing it away. Meet Bob Sterling, a comfortable middle-aged professor, a specialist in the life of Edgar Allan Poe, married to a former student with whom he has a young son. In the space of a week his family, marriage, home, career, sanity, and life are brought to the brink of ruin in the aftermath of a trip he makes with a student, the intense young poet Sienna Chu, who brings to life Bob's long-harbored...