W hen high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma. When Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right, and further tragedy ensues. The author of the number-one New York Times bestsellers She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True-both Oprah's Book Club selections-WALLY LAMB teaches a writing workshop for women at the York Correctional Institution. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Christine. "An embracing, troubling book that spans the Civil War to the present, filled with ... a deep understanding of loss, tempered by compassion, bigheartedness, and that most necessary quality, humor." -New Orleans Times-Picayune "Incandescent.... Every character is rendered with vivid, utterly convincing depth." —Dallas Morning News "This portrayal of a couple dealing with the asymmetrical effects of trauma is Lamb at his best, wholly sympathetic, deeply moving." —Washington Post Book World HARPER PERENNIAL www.harperperennial.com Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive updates on