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A masterly collection of new stories from Russell Banks, acclaimed author of The Sweet Hereafter and Rule of the Bone, which maps the complex terrain of the modern American family. The New York Times lauds Russell Banks as "the most compassionate fiction writer working today," and hails him as a novelist who delivers, "wrenching, panoramic visions of American moral life." Long celebrated for his unflinching, empathetic works that explore the unspoken but hard realities of contemporary culture, Banks now turns his keen intelligence and emotional acuity on perhaps his most complex subject yet: the condition of family in its many forms. Suffused with Banks's trademark lyricism and reckless humor, the 12 stories in A Permanent Person in the Family examine the myriad ways we try - and sometimes fail - to hook up with one another, even as seek a home on the planet. Inside the title story, a father looks back on the legend of the cherished family dog whose divided loyalties mirrored the fragmenting of his marriage. Moving between the stark beauty of winter in upstate New York and the seductive heat of Florida, A Permanent Person in the Family charts with subtlety and precision the ebb and flow of both the families we lead to ourselves and the ones we're born into, as it asks how exactly we know the ones we love and, subsequently, ourselves. One of our most acute and penetrating authors, Banks's virtuosic writing animates stories that are profoundly humane, deeply - and darkly - funny, and absolutely unforgettable.
