When Morgan and Arthur trade city life for a small Illinois farm, their dream quickly unravels among hostile neighbors and a depleted land. The discovery of a corpse in their woods strains their marriage to a breaking point. As Morgan retreats to her old life in Chicago, and Arthur schemes to salvage the farm and win her back, the couple is drawn into a deeper conspiracy. Ultimately, they face an ethical dilemma that might change the course of their lives. Darkly comic and sharply observant, this novel explores love and redemption in a fractured America, blending psychology and suspense in an intensely gratifying story.
How to Love in a World Like This continues from the story "Downriver," which won the Chris O'Malley Prize for Fiction and was published in The Madison Review. It is the second of Kipling Knox's Middling books, after Under the Moon in Illinois.
PRAISE FOR... HOW TO LOVE IN A WORLD LIKE THIS
"A triumphant return to Middling, the fictional town from Under the Moon in Illinois. Part mystery, part ghost story, part shrewd social commentary, and all love story, How to Love in a World Like This is a Midwestern Gothic masterpiece."
- Elaine Palencia
"There is something magical about Knox's writing, haunting in its lyricism. Love is a form of magic, and his wonderfully realized characters remind us that magic is in all of us, no matter how broken we think we are. A remarkable, beautiful novel."
- Frank Chadwick
"In this crafty novel, we watch events through two sets of eyes, each with a story of its own. But gradually we realize this is the larger human story we all are drifting in. Knox delivers what literary fiction offers at its best: a note of hope, a fragile sense of possibility, a glimpse of light we can believe."
- Tamim Ansary
