Andrew Sean Greer

Receiving an invitation to his ex-boyfriend's wedding, Arthur, a failed novelist on the eve of his fiftieth birthday, embarks on an international journey that finds him falling in love, risking his life, reinventing himself, and making connections with the past.

"For Arthur Less, life is surprisingly good: he is a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship with his partner, Freddy Pelu. But nothing lasts: the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis has Less running away from his problems yet again as he accepts a series of literary gigs that send him on a crisscrossing adventure across the US. Less roves across the "Mild Mild West," across the South and to his mid-Atlantic birthplace,...

From critically acclaimed, award-winning author Andrew Sean Greer comes a story like no other. Max Tivoli is uniquely cursed. His mind ages normally, but he is born with the withered body of a 70-year-old man-and his body ages in reverse. Despite this torment, Max manages three times to cross paths with Alice, the woman who captures his heart. Because he appears to be a different person each time they meet, Max has three chances for true love.

"A young man takes a position as an assistant to an eccentric baronessa in the Italian countryside"-- Provided by publisher

Featuring guest editor contributions by the author of "Less," the latest edition of the respected literary annual collects twenty top-selected short stories from the previous year.