Andre Dubus III Books in Order

People on society's margins struggle with violence, betrayal, and the desire to belong. A halfway-house worker, a man approaching imprisonment, and an ex-convict face choices that expose the unstable boundaries between love, anger, and acceptance.

In a Massachusetts town during the Vietnam era, young Leo Suther discovers love, politics, and the blues. As his plans unravel, the diaries and poems of his dead mother offer guidance that the adults around him cannot.

When her babysitter falls ill, April brings her young daughter to the strip club where she works. A wealthy foreign customer and an angry, rejected patron draw their lives together on a volatile night in Florida.

Growing up amid poverty and violence in Massachusetts, Dubus learns to defend himself with his fists. His memoir follows the dangerous consequences of that strength and his discovery that writing offers another way to understand people and reconnect with his father.

Four linked novellas follow people along the Massachusetts coast as desire collides with betrayal and loneliness. A husband's discovery, a new romance, a bartender's infidelity, and a teenager's humiliation expose the difficult search for intimacy and respect.

An ex-convict seeks the daughter he has not seen in forty years, while her grandmother remains consumed by anger toward him. Their converging lives reveal how violence shapes families long after a prison sentence ends.

A roofing accident leaves Tom Lowe unable to work, dependent on painkillers, and estranged from his family. Living in subsidized housing, he struggles to rebuild an identity beyond earning a living and accepting help from others.

Dubus revisits a violent youth, working life, gun ownership, and the responsibilities of fatherhood. These personal essays examine masculinity and privilege through experiences that complicate his understanding of strength, shame, memory, and becoming a better person.