RetailFrom one of America’s most accomplished and acclaimed fiction writers, a spectacularly riveting novel based on a real-life multiple murder by a con man who preyed on widows— a story that has haunted Jayne Anne Phillips for more than four decades In Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, mother of three, is lonely and despairing, pressed for money after the sudden death of her husband. She begins to receive seductive letters from a chivalrous, elegant man named Harry Powers, who promises to cherish and protect her, ultimately to marry her and to care for her and her children. Weeks later, all four Eichers are dead. Emily Thornhill, one of the few women journalists in the Chicago press, becomes deeply invested in understanding what happened to this beautiful family, particularly to the youngest child, Annabel, an enchanting girl with a precocious imagination and sense of magic. Bold and intrepid, Emily allies herself with a banker who is wracked by guilt for not saving Asta. Emily goes to West Virginia to cover the murder trial and to investigate the story herself, accompanied by a charming and unconventional photographer who is equally drawn to the case. Driven by secrets of their own, the heroic characters in this magnificent tale will stop at nothing to ensure that Powers is convicted. Mesmerizing and deeply moving, Quiet Dell is a tragedy, a love story, and a tour de force of obsession and imagination from one of America’s most celebrated writers.**

From Publishers Weekly

These seven stories, which include two that use characters and situations from her novel Machine Dreams, demonstrate the evolution of the author's gifted style. PW was dazzled, stating that "it seems as though there's nothing Phillips can't do." (February) BANDITS Elmore Leonard. Warner, $4.95 An ex-jewel thief, ex-nun and ex-cop and others cast their greedy glances on the millions of dollars being raised secretly by a Nicaraguan on behalf of the contras. PW's contribution: "This is a top-notch thriller with a real moral resonance."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Phillips's writing has developed chiefly through the voice of her characters: first in the collection Black Tickets ( LJ 1 0/1/79), then the novel Machine Dreams ( LJ 7/84), and now in Fast Lanes , a collection of seven stories. (A limited edition presenting only the story "Fast Lanes" was published under that title by Vehicle Edns. in 1984.) A West Virginian, Phillips is often strongest when treating the isolation of that state's rural communities, as in "Bess," a woman's reminiscence of life in turn-of-the-century Coalton. But the author's voice now broadens, exploring in fluid style a rock star's life and love ("How Mickey Made It"), a woman's yearnings for her unborn child ("Bluegill"), and the drifter's dreamy possession of reality ("Fast Lanes"). Phillips's perspective on contemporary life is refreshingly honest, her style engaging. Paul E. Hutchison, English Dept., Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.