Madison Smartt Bell: 22 books

A story collection spanning New York to Haiti and beyond from the National Book Award–finalist and author of Barking Man.   Spanning twenty years, Bell’s third collection of stories showcases his phenomenal literary range and his unwavering focus on characters looking in from the outside. Punks,...

Two small-time thieves get in over their heads in this literary thriller from the “virtuoso novelist” and author of Soldier’s Joy (The Philadelphia Inquirer).   Not quite at home in the backwoods of Tennessee, and even less suited for the service, drifter Macrae lands on his feet in New York...

"A serious historical novel that reads like a dream." --The Washington Post Book World "One of the most spohisticated fictional treatments of the enduring themes of class, color, and freedom." --San Francisco Chronicle NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST This...

An American film editor is caught up in Europe’s drug underworld in a “spare and cinematic” character study by the award-winning author of Soldier’s Joy (Time).   Tracy Bateman eeks out a meager existence as a freelance film editor. Other than alcohol, his closest companion is a dog dying...

The National Book Award–finalist movingly examines the lives of a group of New Yorkers deeply affected by one woman’s troubled life—and death.   Marian is haunted by an unspoken past reflected in the choices she makes. Whether it’s her drug addiction or her dubious affairs, she finds herself...

A reissue of E. E. Cummings's long-unavailable, yet pointed and moving story of a journey through Soviet Russia. Unavailable for more than fifty years, EIMI finally returns. While sometimes termed a "novel," it is better described as a novelistic travelogue, the diary of a trip to...

Mae, a blackjack dealer in a Las Vegas casino, spends her free time wandering the desert with a rifle, or sitting in her trailer obsessively watching replays of an old lover escaping the wreckage of 9/11. What she sees in those images is different from what the rest of us would see. She revels in...

Seven men tell their stories of survival on the streets of 1980s New York City in this gritty debut novel by the National Book Award–finalist.   Like most New Yorkers, Johnny B. Goode hustles to make a living. His beat happens to be pharmaceutical distribution. His place of business, Washington...