Harpercollins: 21259 books

From the critically acclaimed short-story collection The Beggar’s Garden, “The Extra” features a young, mentally disabled man and his best friend, Rick, who find work as extras on a film set. This story was nominated for a Journey Prize. The Beggar’s Garden follows a diverse group of...

On a very dark night, Janet attends a party with her friends Livie and Nathan, where she meets Baker and begins a relationship with him. It is not until much later that Janet begins to unravel his nice-guy exterior and learns that Baker is perhaps not who he seems. Fever is a collection of...

With his farm suffering due to drought, his wife incapacitated by depression after a miscarriage, and the house—which seems to be haunted—likely to be foreclosed, Gabriel cannot keep up with all the things going wrong in his life. It soon seems that both nature and the supernatural are teaming...

Charlotte’s life is in disarray after her fifteen-year-old daughter moves in with her deadbeat, squatter boyfriend. Charlotte’s husband stops going to work, and instead spends his days watching the Iran-Contra hearings; the police can do little to bring their daughter home; and Charlotte always...

Dr. Mowbray no longer feels that he is a healer, but instead believes that he carries death with him. Mr. Baker, dying in the hospital, dreams of being surrounded by the beauty of nature—a bamboo forest, the Sahara Desert, a sunny glade. Watching over the old man, Dr. Mowbray begins to see the lush...

In the titular story of Michael Christie’s critically acclaimed debut collection, The Beggar’s Garden, Sam Prince moves into the shed behind his house as his marriage falls apart. He meets a local panhandler and tries to help him sort out his life—even though he can’t find the courage to fix...

Crack addict Henry bumps into theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the two set out on a drug-fuelled adventure, contemplating the nature of science, addiction, and the restlessness of human life. “Goodbye Porkpie Hat” is part of Michael Christie’s critically acclaimed short-story...

From the short-story collection The Beggar’s Garden, “Discard” tells the story of Earl, who, after the death of his beloved wife, Tuuli, retreats into his basement. He emerges to track down his estranged, homeless grandson, leaving food and other broken-down bits of things in dumpsters for him...

Michael Christie delicately and convincingly explores the fragile world of mental illness through Saul, a hospital patient who stops taking his medication, reordering his perspective on the world. “King Me” is part of Christie’s critically acclaimed short-story collection, The Beggar’s Garden. The...

The reluctant owner of a wayward Andalucian wolfhound named Buddy, Dan discovers the immutable bond between man and his best friend. “An Ideal Companion” is part of Michael Christie’s critically acclaimed short-story collection, The Beggar’s Garden. The Beggar’s Garden follows a diverse...

Finch stole his first car when he was a nimble twelve-year-old. Hundreds of cars later, he slips behind the wheel of an emerald-green Benz and takes his chances in the night, picking up a passenger along the way. “The Quiet” is part of Michael Christie’s critically acclaimed short-story collection,...

Bernice is a collector—of items rescued from her thrift shop and memories of a husband who abandoned her years ago—until one day she decides to take her sister’s advice and downsize. “The Queen of Cans and Jars” is part of Michael Christie’s critically acclaimed short-story collection,...

Driving across the city to have dinner with old friends, Marion finds herself suddenly reminded of an experience she had long forgotten. As the night progresses, the memories surface one after another, some more easily recalled and others feeling as though they occurred in dreams rather than reality—all...

When her father-in-law dies, Carol prepares to go through the process of grieving with her husband. What she does not expect is to become entrenched in memories of her own father and their distant relationship, an experience that leads her to consider the many ways in which people mourn and begin...