A "novel about a tight-knit group of twentysomethings in New York whose lives are forever altered by an unexpected tragedy... Five years after their college graduation, the devoted friends once known as "the Murphys" remain as inseparable as ever... As this...novel opens in December 2008, they are making their way through heavy snowfall to gather at a lavish art world holiday party. But for all the glitz and glamor, the festivities mark a more momentous...

In Venice during 1570, Desdemona, daughter of a powerful nobleman, elopes with Othello, a proud Moor celebrated as the city's most awesome warrior. Iago, who has served alongside Othello for a decade, is angered when the general chooses another lieutenant, Cassio, as his second in command. In retribution, Iago sabotages Cassio's promotion and convinces Othello that the handsome officer is cuckolding him. Othello writhes under the tortures Iago has...

This book delves into the author's longtime fascination with the ghost of Hamlet's father, and his daring and ultimately gratifying journey takes him through surprising intellectual territory. It yields an extraordinary account of the rise and fall of Purgatory as both a belief and a lucrative institution as well as a capacious new reading of the power of Hamlet. In the mid-sixteenth century, English authorities abruptly changed the relationship between...