The Whore's Child

In the title story, a septuagenarian nun resolutely invades the narrator's college writing workshop with an incredible saga; a seasoned Hollywood moviemaker uncovers a 25-year-old flame he never knew he'd harboured; a precious fifth-grader puzzles over life, love and baseball as he watches his parents' marriage dissolve; another child is forced into a harrowing cross-country escape; and an elderly couple rediscover the power - and misery - of their relationship during a long-awaited retreat to a hurricane-swept resort island.