<b>From Joyce Carol Oates, literary icon and author of <i>BLONDE</i>, now a major motion picture, a collection of four dark and compelling novellas about love gone wrong.</b>The young fourth wife of a prominent intellectual thinks herself happy until the first wife comes to stay. A shy teenager meets a dazzling kindred spirit. But the first sparks of young love soon take on a darker shade...A spoiled frat boy decides to murder his parents, only to be floored by the power of his mother''s love; and a fragile woman reveals deeply buried secrets to her curious lover with devastating consequences...All of these stories are about love, just not as we like to think of it.<b>Reviews for Joyce Carol Oates:</b>''A writer of extraordinary strengths.'' <b><i>Guardian</i></b> ''Oates chillingly depicts the darkness lurking within the everyday.'' <b><i>Sunday Express</i></b> ''Both haunting and sublime.'' <b><i>Literary Review</i></b> ''Splendidly chilling.'' <b><i>Financial Times</i></b> ''Viscera