Our Possible Life

A master of American realism and of the short story, Andre Dubus III here explores what poet Ellen Bass calls "this visceral bloody union that is love, but beyond love." Our Possible Life follows the stories of six characters, three women and three men, all of whom are trying to live up to what they believe their lives should be. A disillusioned young wife reports her insurrectionist husband to the FBI; a former debt-collector for a bookie is trapped in the neighborhood he used to terrorize; a middle-aged travelling nurse struggles to escape the gravitational pull of her charismatic, self-involved swinger of an ex-husband; married couples strive to forgive each other, and to give their children what they didn't have themselves.

With consummate grace, Our Possible Life delves into the myriad challenges of loving and aging, of emotional debt and obligation, of trespass and healing generosity in a fallen world still rich with opportunities to care.