{"product_id":"swim-back-to-me-9781400079735","title":"Swim Back to Me","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Dive from Clausen's Pier\u003c\/i\u003e comes an \"exhilarating, searing\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e) collection of short stories framed by two unforgettable linked narratives.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"With this collection, Ann Packer takes her place among today's best authors of literary fiction.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Minneapolis Star-Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA wife struggles to make sense of her husband's sudden disappearance. A mother mourns her teenage son through the music collection he left behind. A woman shepherds her estranged parents through her brother's wedding and reflects on the year her family collapsed. A young man comes to grips with the joy--and vulnerability--of fatherhood. And, in the masterly opening novella, two teenagers from very different families forge a sustaining friendship, only to discover the disruptive and unsettling power of sex. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnn Packer is one of our most talented archivists of family life, with its hidden crevasses and unforeseeable perils, and in these stories she explores the moral predicaments that define our social and emotional lives, the frailty of ordinary grace, and the ways in which we are shattered and remade by loss. With \u003ci\u003eSwim Back to Me, \u003c\/i\u003e she delivers shimmering psychological precision, unfailing intelligence, and page-turning drama: her most enticing work yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnn Packer\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of two best-selling novels, \u003ci\u003eSongs Without Words \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Dive from Clausen's Pier, \u003c\/i\u003ethe latter of which received a Great Lakes Book\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eAward, an American Library Association Award, and the Kate Chopin\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eLiterary Award. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker, The Washington Post, Vogue, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eReal Simple. \u003c\/i\u003eAlso the author of\u003ci\u003e Mendocino and Other Stories, \u003c\/i\u003eshe lives in northern California with her\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003efamily.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52160325648658,"sku":"9781400079735","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8faea360-48d9-4096-8be6-2699dfd57a5d.jpg?v=1775053027","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/swim-back-to-me-9781400079735","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}