New York, NY: Simon and Schuster (2005)

First Edition. Signed on the title page.

As new in dust jacket.

Twenty years ago, a first novel appeared and instantly announced the arrival of a master storyteller. T. R. Pearson's A Short History of a Small Place was hailed as "an absolute stunner" (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post) and its hero, young Louis Benfield, was dubbed "a youth not as wry as Holden Caulfield, but certainly as observant, and with a bigger, even sadder heart" (Fran Schumer, The New York Times).

Now, older but not necessarily wiser, Louis Benfield returns in Glad News of the Natural World. In order to get a sense of the larger world, he has moved to New York City from his hometown of Neely, North Carolina. Louis is a modern-day Candide, looking for love and experience in all the wrong places. However, when tragedy strikes, he finds the maturity to be more than man enough for the job.

Whether catching up with Louis Benfield and the denizens of Neely or meeting them for the first time, readers will find Glad News of the Natural World hilarious and heartbreaking, warm and wise.