{"title":"Lori Ostlund","description":"\u003cp\u003eDiscover Lori Ostlund's insightful fiction, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the complexities of modern life. Perfect for readers who enjoy nuanced characters and thought-provoking narratives. Browse her acclaimed novels and stories.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bigness-of-the-world-book-lori-ostlund-9780820334097","title":"The Bigness of the World","description":"In Lori Ostlund's debut collection, people seeking escape from situations at home venture out into a world that they find is just as complicated and troubled as the one they left behind. In prose highlighted by both satire and poignant observation, Ostlund offers characters that represent a different sort of everyman - men and women who poke fun at ideological rigidity while holding fast to good grammar and manners, people seeking connections in a world that seems increasingly foreign. In \"\"Upon Completion of Baldness\"\" a young woman shaves her head for a part in a movie in Hong Kong that will help her escape life with her lover in Albuquerque. The precocious narrator of \"\"All Boy\"\" finds comfort when he is locked in a closet by a babysitter. In \"\"Dr. Deneau's Punishment\"\" a math teacher leaving New York for Minnesota as a means of punishing himself engages in an unsettling method of discipline. A lesbian couple whose relationship is disintegrating flees to the Moroccan desert in \"\"The Children Beneath the Seat.\"\" And in \"\"Idyllic Little Bali\"\" a group of Americans gather around a pool in Java to discuss their brushes with fame and end up witnessing a man's fatal flight from his wife. 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After twenty years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate. But soon after establishing himself in San Francisco--where he alternates between a shoddy garage apartment and the absurdly ramshackle ESL school where he teaches--Aaron sees that real freedom will not come until he has made peace with his memories of Morton, Minnesota: a cramped town whose four hundred souls form a constellation of Aaron's childhood heartbreaks and hopes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter Aaron's father died in the town parade, it was the larger-than-life misfits of his childhood--sardonic, wheel-chair bound dwarf named Clarence, a generous, obese baker named Bernice, a kindly aunt preoccupied with dreams of The Rapture--who helped Aaron find his place in a provincial world hostile to difference. But Aaron's sense of rejection runs deep: when Aaron was seventeen, Dolores--Aaron's loving, selfish, and enigmatic mother--vanished one night with the town pastor. Aaron hasn't heard from Dolores in more than twenty years, but when a shambolic PI named Bill offers a key to closure, Aaron must confront his own role in his troubled past and rethink his place in a world of unpredictable, life-changing forces. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLori Ostlund's debut novel is an openhearted contemplation of how we grow up and move on, how we can turn our deepest wounds into our greatest strengths. Written with homespun charm and unceasing vitality, \u003ci\u003eAfter the Parade\u003c\/i\u003e is a glorious new anthem for the outsider.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49653891367185,"sku":"GOR008521195","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50268314927377,"sku":"CIN1476790108VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417008308497,"sku":"CIN1476790108G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1476790108.jpg?v=1751306140"},{"product_id":"after-the-parade-book-lori-ostlund-9781476790114","title":"After the Parade","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe debut novel from award-winning author Lori Ostlund--\"smart, resonant, and imbued with beauty\" (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e) that \"provides considerable pleasure and emotional power\" (\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e)--about a man who leaves his longtime partner in New Mexico for a tragicomic road trip deep into the mysteries of his own Midwestern childhood.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Sensitive, bighearted, and achingly self-conscious, forty-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confinements of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After twenty years under the Pygmalion-like care of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to take control of his own fate. But soon after establishing himself in San Francisco, Aaron sees that real freedom will not come until he has made peace with his memories of Mortonville, Minnesota--a cramped town whose four hundred souls form a constellation of Aaron's childhood heartbreaks and hopes.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e After Aaron's father died in the town parade, it was the larger-than life misfits of his childhood who helped Aaron find his place in a world hostile to difference. But Aaron's sense of rejection runs deep: when Aaron was seventeen, Dolores--his loving yet selfish and enigmatic mother--vanished one night. And when, all these years later, a new friend in San Francisco offers Aaron a way to locate his mother, his past and present collide, forcing Aaron to rethink his place in the world.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Touching and often hilarious...Ostlund writes with acuity and refreshing honesty about the messy complexity of being a social animal in today's world...\" (\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review). \"Everything here aches, from the lucid prose to the sensitively treated characters to their beautiful and heartbreaking stories...An example of realism in its most potent iteration: not a nearly arranged plot orchestrated by an authorial god but an authentic, empathetic representation of life as it truly is\" (\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review). \u003ci\u003eAfter the Parade\u003c\/i\u003e is a glorious anthem for the outsider.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49765542199569,"sku":"CIN1476790116G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50385042669841,"sku":"CIN1476790116A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50664012415249,"sku":"CIN1476790116VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51028555333905,"sku":"NIN9781476790114","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1476790116.jpg?v=1767094775"},{"product_id":"after-the-parade-cd-9781622318858","title":"After the Parade","description":"From Flannery O'Connor and Rona Jaffe Award winner Lori Ostlund, a deeply moving and beautiful debut novel about a man who leaves his longtime partner in New Mexico for a new life in San Francisco, launching him on a tragicomic road trip and into the mysteries of his own Midwestern childhood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, forty-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After twenty years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate. But soon after establishing himself in San Francisco--where he alternates between a shoddy garage apartment and the absurdly ramshackle ESL school where he teaches--Aaron sees that real freedom will not come until he has made peace with his memories of Morton, Minnesota: a cramped town whose four hundred souls form a constellation of Aaron's childhood heartbreaks and hopes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter Aaron's father died in the town parade, it was the larger-than-life misfits of his childhood--sardonic, wheel-chair bound dwarf named Clarence, a generous, obese baker named Bernice, a kindly aunt preoccupied with dreams of The Rapture--who helped Aaron find his place in a provincial world hostile to difference. But Aaron's sense of rejection runs deep: when Aaron was seventeen, Dolores--Aaron's loving, selfish, and enigmatic mother--vanished one night with the town pastor. Aaron hasn't heard from Dolores in more than twenty years, but when a shambolic PI named Bill offers a key to closure, Aaron must confront his own role in his troubled past and rethink his place in a world of unpredictable, life-changing forces. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLori Ostlund's debut novel is an openhearted contemplation of how we grow up and move on, how we can turn our deepest wounds into our greatest strengths. Written with homespun charm and unceasing vitality, \u003ci\u003eAfter the Parade\u003c\/i\u003e is a glorious new anthem for the outsider.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49801370534161,"sku":"CIN1622318854G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1622318854.jpg?v=1751310615"},{"product_id":"bigness-of-the-world-book-lori-ostlund-9780820336886","title":"The Bigness of the World","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn Lori Ostlund s debut collection people seeking escape from situations at home venture out into a world that they find is just as complicated and troubled as the one they left behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn prose highlighted by both satire and poignant observation, Ostlund offers characters that represent a different sort of everyman--men and women who poke fun at ideological rigidity while holding fast to good grammar and manners, people seeking connections in a world that seems increasingly foreign. In Upon Completion of Baldness a young woman shaves her head for a part in a movie in Hong Kong that will help her escape life with her lover in Albuquerque. The precocious narrator of All Boy finds comfort when he is locked in a closet by a babysitter. In Dr. Deneau s Punishment a math teacher leaving New York for Minnesota as a means of punishing himself engages in an unsettling method of discipline. A lesbian couple whose relationship is disintegrating flees to the Moroccan desert in The Children beneath the Seat. And in Idyllic Little Bali a group of Americans gathers around a pool in Java to discuss their brushes with fame and ends up witnessing a man s fatal flight from his wife.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the eleven stories in\u0026gt;\u003ci\u003eThe Bigness of the World\u003c\/i\u003e we see that wherever you are in the world, where you came from is never far away.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49909455552785,"sku":"CIN0820336882G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51115233345809,"sku":"NIN9780820336886","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52433897554193,"sku":"NLS9780820336886","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0820336882.jpg?v=1750849913"},{"product_id":"bigness-of-the-world-book-lori-ostlund-9781501117879","title":"The Bigness of the World","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Flannery O'Connor Prize, the Edmund White Award, and the California Book Award, Lori Ostlund's \"heartbreaking and wonderful\" (Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo) debut collection of stories about men and women confronting the unmapped and unexpected.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In Lori Ostlund's award-winning debut collection, people seeking escape from situations at home venture out into a world that they find is just as complicated and troubled as the one they left behind.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In prose highlighted by both satire and poignant observation, \u003ci\u003eThe Bigness of the World\u003c\/i\u003e contains characters that represent a different sort of everyman--men and women who poke fun at ideological rigidity while holding fast to good grammar and manners, people seeking connections in a world that seems increasingly foreign. In \"Upon Completion of Baldness,\" a young woman shaves her head for a part in a movie in Hong Kong that will help her escape life with her lover in Albuquerque. In \"All Boy,\" a young logophile encounters the limits of language when he finds he prefers the comfort of a dark closet over the struggle to make friends at school. In \"Dr. Deneau's Punishment,\" a math teacher leaving New York for Minnesota as a means of punishing himself engages in an unsettling method of discipline. In \"Bed Death,\" a couple travels Malaysia to teach, only to find their relationship crumbling as they are accepted in their new environment. And in \"Idyllic Little Bali,\" a group of Americans gather around a pool in Java to discuss their brushes with fame and end up witnessing a man's fatal flight from his wife.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Ostlund constantly delights the reader with the subtlety of her insights as well as the carefulness of her prose\" (\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e), revealing that wherever you are in the world, where you came from is never far away. \"Each piece is sublime\" (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50038543581457,"sku":"CIN1501117874G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50586064224529,"sku":"CIN1501117874VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51031369548049,"sku":"NIN9781501117879","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1501117874.jpg?v=1750956952"},{"product_id":"dance-boots-book-linda-legarde-grover-9780820335803","title":"The Dance Boots","description":"In this stirring collection of linked stories, Linda LeGarde Grover portrays an Ojibwe community struggling to follow traditional ways of life in the face of a relentlessly changing world. 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