{"product_id":"gryphon-new-and-selected-stories-9780307739520","title":"Gryphon: New and Selected Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book from the winner of the PEN\/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and \"one of our most gifted writers\" (\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBy turns compassionate, gently humorous, and haunting, this collection--sixteen classics with seven new stories--proves William Maxwell's assertion that \"nobody can touch Charles Baxter in the field that he has carved out for himself.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhether friends or strangers, the characters in these stories share a desire--sometimes muted and sometimes fierce--to break through the fragile glass of convention. In the title story, a substitute teacher walks into a new classroom, draws an outsized tree on the blackboard on a whim, and rewards her students by reading their fortunes using a Tarot deck. In each of the stories we see the delicate tension between what we want to believe and what we need to believe. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A warmly disposed yet unsentimental chronicler of American lives ... Some [stories are] poignant and disturbing, and all of them highly readable.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles Baxter is the author of the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Feast of Love\u003c\/i\u003e (nominated for the National Book Award), \u003ci\u003eThe Soul Thief\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSaul and Patsy\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eShadow Play\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eFirst Light\u003c\/i\u003e, and the collections \u003ci\u003eBelievers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Relative Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThrough the Safety Net\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eHarmony of the World\u003c\/i\u003e. He has won the PEN\/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Baxter lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota and in the M.F.A. Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50410096361746,"sku":"9780307739520","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f2afbbcd-9f4d-4c3b-83ea-35730be47801.jpg?v=1729301590","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/gryphon-new-and-selected-stories-9780307739520","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}