2010 Mass Book Awards Fiction Shortlist

Day After Night by Anita Diamant. (Scribner)

Sadness yet a spirit of hope permeates this story about the friendship and bonding of four female Jewish refugees as they resiliently endure life at Atilt, the British detention camp in Palestine after World War II.

Four Freedoms by John Crowley. (William Morrow)

Poignant portrayal of disparate people who find themselves together because of a common purpose -- employment at an Oklahoma airplane construction company during World War II.

The History of Now by Daniel Klein. (The Permanent Press)

Charming story of small town life in western Massachusetts and the changes that occur as newcomers arrive, bringing their high-powered ideas and expectations.

Hound by Vincent McCaffrey. (Small Beer Press)

Harry Sullivan, book dealer & bibliophile, has his life thrown into turmoil when his Beacon Hill landlady dies and a former lover is found murdered. A debut novel by the owner of Boston's beloved Victor Hugo Bookshop.

Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips. (Knopf)

Set primarily in West Virginia and constructed as series of vignettes, the book is catalyzed by a tragic massacre that took place during the early phase of the Korean War. National Book Award nominee

The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl. (Random House)

When his shop assistant is murdered on the Boston waterfront while trying to take delivery of a Dickens manuscript, publisher James Osgood sets out for England to seek the truth and to save his business from ruin.

Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn. (Southern Methodist U P)

Interconnected short stories depict the decline of Lowell, MA from a bustling 1940s mill town to the present day.

Shelter Me by Juliette Fay. (Avon)

A young wife and mother who loses her husband suddenly in an accident deals with her anger and grief and begins to reconnect to life over the course of a year.

Stealing Fatima by Frank X. Gaspar. (Counterpoint)

A tortured priest works to rebuild his declining parish in a struggling Portuguese fishing community (bearing a strong resemblance to Provincetown, MA) and grapples with the possibility of redemption.

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman. (Shay Areheart Books)

Three bright and beautiful Long Island girls deal with the lingering effects of an act of child abuse in this dark but moving tale of resilience and the power of love.

Triple Time by Anne Sanow. (University of Pittsburgh Press)

A Saudi Arabian landscape links these short stories which vividly present the country's old traditions and modern changes.

****Woodsburner by John Pipkin (Random House) WINNER

In this debut novel, the author takes an actual incident in the life of Henry David Thoreau (an accidental fire that consumes three hundred acres of the Concord woods) and weaves it into a richly satisfying tale.

5/10

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