Passion and betrayal, violent desperation, ambivalent love that hinges on hatred, and the quest for acceptance by those who stand on the edge of society-these are the hard-hitting themes of a stunningly crafted first collection of stories by the bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog . A vigilant young man working in a halfway house finds himself unable to defend against the rage of one of the inmates in the title story. In "White Trees, Hammer Moon," a man soon to leave home for prison finds himself as unprepared for a family camping trip in the mountains of New Hampshire as he has been for most things in his life. And in the award-winning "Forky," an ex-con is haunted by the punishment he receives just as he is being released into the world. With an incisive ability to inhabit the lives of his characters, Dubus travels deep into the heart of the elusive American dream. "Powerful... Richly original." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review "Andre Dubus has a talent for delineating the everyday pathos of obscure, unglamorous lives." -- The New York Times Book Review "[An] insightful exploration of the nature of violence." -- San Francisco Examiner Passion and betrayal, violent desperation, ambivalent love that hinges on hatred, and the quest for acceptance by those who stand on the edge of society-these are the hard-hitting themes of a stunningly crafted first collection of stories by the bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog . A vigilant young man working in a halfway house finds himself unable to defend against the rage of one of the inmates in the title story. In "White Trees, Hammer Moon," a man soon to leave home for prison finds himself as unprepared for a family camping trip in the mountains of New Hampshire as he has been for most things in his life. And in the award-winning "Forky," an ex-con is haunted by the punishment he receives just as he is being released into the world. With an incisive ability to inhabit the lives of his characters, Dubus travels deep into the heart of the elusive American dream. Passion and betrayal, violent desperation, ambivalent love that hinges on hatred, and the quest for acceptance by those who stand on the edge of society-these are the hard-hitting themes of a stunningly crafted first collection of stories by the bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog." A vigilant young man working in a halfway house finds himself unable to defend against the rage of one of the inmates in the title story. In "White Trees, Hammer Moon," a man soon to leave home for prison finds himself as unprepared for a family camping trip in the mountains of New Hampshire as he has been for most things in his life. And in the award-winning "Forky," an ex-con is haunted by the punishment he receives just as he is being released into the world. With an incisive ability to inhabit the lives of his characters, Dubus travels deep into the heart of the elusive American dream. Andre Dubus III lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The Cage Keeper For Mac 1 It's midnight in December, an hour past lights out, and I'm walking the hall of the women's wing. I open the doors fast so the hinges don't squeak and I run the beam of my flashlight over the beds. I try not to shine it in anybody's face while they're sleeping but sometimes I have to if their hair is in the way or something. They don't like that. Emma, this black woman from the projects of east Denver, she's mean; once I shined the light in her eyes and she threw her clock radio at me, yelled something like, "Get that damn light outta my face." I had to put her on restriction and cancel four of her weekend furloughs for that. Emma has ten kids and I guess I'm supposed to feel sorry for her when she can't get back to Denver to see them after throwing a radio at me. Fact is, I'm not too popular around here anyway. Leon is, though. Leon's black and he lifts weights down at a gym near the university here in Boulder. His father's a realtor like mine, so he didn't grow up poor. And he doesn't let any of the black inmates come across with their "Hey, brother" malarkey either. Usually, when they start a sentence like that with him, they're trying to butter him up for some favor or another and Leon knows it. But he just puts his finger to their chest lightly and says, "Don't be giving me no brother shit, Clay. Now go wash down the mess hall walls." But he is more popular than I am. Not that I'm very worried about it, because I'm not. Like my older brother, Mark, the House Director, said to us in a meeting once: "If the inmates like you too much, then you're not doing your job properly." Leon does his job; it's just that he looks at these people differently than I do. We talked about this over a couple beers at The Rhino once after our four p.m. to one a.m. shift. He said that it's probably because he's black that he roots for the underdog. Me. I don't look at it that way; I don't believe that all convicted adult felons are underdogs. P