Riveting, often heartbreaking stories that take readers through country that is figuratively and literally unmapped. These stories are set in a nameless community too small to be called a town, a place where wanting an education is a mark of ungodly arrogance and dowsing for water a legitimate occup[...]

Seven years ago, Chris Offutt made his literary debut with "Kentucky Straight, " a fiercely original collection that earned him not only critical praise but many prestigious awards. The eight new stories in "Out of the Woods" mark Offutt's return to the form in which he first displayed his astonish[...]