Forty Martyrs — Philip F. Deaver

The long-awaited follow-up from the author of the Flannery O'Connor Award-winning collection, Silent Retreats, Forty Martyrs follows the intertwining lives of the people of Tuscola, Illinois, a small Midwestern town that, over the course of the book, collectively experiences a spectacular fire, a terrible stabbing, and a questionable religious sighting. Through shifts in tone and perspective, Deaver's natural storytelling creates a beautiful symphonic effect, an ode to small towns and Midwestern lives.