Jessica Shattuck Books in Order

Returning home after college, Caroline Dunlap finds her old Boston family unsettled by her parents’ separation and a former housekeeper’s unexplained departure. Over one turbulent week, concealed desires and family secrets challenge the privileged life she thought she understood.

Neil donated sperm to his former girlfriend with no intention of becoming a father. His unexpected appearance at the child’s christening disrupts her privileged East Coast circle and forces several families to reconsider the ties between biology, commitment, and love.

After Nazi Germany’s defeat, resistance widow Marianne gathers other conspirators’ wives and children in a damaged Bavarian castle. She hopes their shared losses will unite them, but buried secrets complicate their efforts to rebuild their lives together.

Nine stories explore power, oppression, grief, and sacrifice through strange and sometimes tender situations. A girl turns to music after losing her father, a dealer descends into Hell, and a clown’s rise accompanies a society’s collapse.

An oil company lawyer builds a comfortable postwar life for his family, including a secluded Vermont retreat. As his children confront the political upheavals of the 1960s, their ideals collide with the industry that made that security possible.