There may be no one better than T.C. Boyle at engaging, shocking, and ultimately gratifying readers while at the same time testing his characters' emotional and physical endurance. The fourteen new stories gathered here display both Boyle's astonishing range and his imaginative muscle.

From "Wild Child," a retelling of the story of Victor, the feral boy who was captured running naked through the forests of Napoleonic France, to "La Conchita," the tale of a catastrophic mudslide that allows a cynic to reclaim his own humanity, these tales are by turns magical and moving, showcasing the mischievous humor and socially conscious sensibility that have made Boyle one of the foremost living masters of the short story.

"A rollicking collection of...good, old-fashioned, funny- suspenseful-head shaking stories." -The New York Times

"The title novella in Boyles's ninth collection is as good as anything the prolific author of The Women has written….Boyle interrogates history with an experienced reader's wariness of sentimental revisionism and a great writer's attention to precisely what defines the child's wildness." -Publishers Weekly

"One of the most inventive and verbally exuberant writers of his generation." -New York Times

"Boyle is a marvel at descriptive prose…." -Washington Post Book World

"Boyle may be the most entertaining writer in America." -Boston Globe