World and Town

The award-winning author of Thank You, Mr. Nixon and The Resisters delivers “[a] triumph of a novel.... Jen reflects America, at its best, its worst, its most vulnerable” ( The Miami Herald ), and asks deep questions about religion, love, home, and meaning. Hattie Kong, a retired teacher and a descendant of Confucius, has decided that it’s time to start over. She moves to the peaceful New England town of Riverlake, a place that once represented the rock-solid base of American life. Instead