By a National Book Award finalist for fiction: A warm, dramatic, intimate new novel of a family divided and united by its most vulnerable member.

Janet Peery’s first novel, The River Beyond the World, was a National Book Award finalist in 1996. Acclaimed for her gorgeous writing and clear-eyed gaze into the hearts of people, Peery now returns with her second novel, The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs.

On a summer evening in the blue-collar town of Amicus, Kansas, the Campbell family gathers for a birthday dinner for their ailing patriarch, town judge Abel Campbell, prepared and hosted by their still-hale mother Hattie. But when Billy, the youngest sibling—with a history of addiction, grand ideas, and misdemeanors—passes out in his devil’s food cake, the family takes up the unfinished business of Billy’s sobriety.

Billy’s misadventures have too long consumed their lives, in particular Hattie’s, who has enabled his transgressions while trying to save him from Abel’s disappointment. As the older children—Doro, Jesse, ClairBell, and Gideon—contend with their own failures, they compete for the approval of the elderly parents they adore, but can’t quite forgive.

With knowing humor and sure-handed storytelling, Janet Peery reveals a family at its best and worst, with old wounds and new, its fractures and feuds, and yet its unbreakable bonds.

 

Janet Peery’s books include Alligator Dance (stories), What the Thunder Said (a novella and stories), and her first novel The River Beyond the World, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. She has received numerous honors for her fiction including the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Whiting Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. She lives in Cape Charles, Virginia.

 

“Peery’s insightful writing turns a happily-ever-after conclusion into appreciation for the serenity of acceptance and steadfastness.” —Booklist

“A tender—if not altogether surprising—family portrait with generous heart. Ultimately satisfying, a quiet novel with lingering warmth.” —Kirkus

“A powerful new novel...Potent and memorable.” —Publishers Weekly

“Intimate and beautifully written.” —Marie Claire

“Peery’s writing is polished and elegant, even when dissecting the pettiest of betrayals, or describing the basest insults that fly between these wounded and defensive characters.” —RT Book Reviews