Nothing Gold Can Stay

In the title story, two drug addicted friends return to the farm where they worked as boys to steal their boss's unusual but valuable war trophies. In "The Trusty," a convict sent to fetch water tries to sweet talk a farmer's young wife into helping him escape, only to find she too is imprisoned in her own way. In "Something Rich and Strange," a diver is called upon to pull a drowned girl's body free from under a falls, but finds her eerily at peace below the surface. Rash captures lives tarnished by violence that unexpectedly shimmer with sublime tenderness, and raw settings matched only by their stark beauty - a masterful combination that has earned this award-winning author an avalanche of praise.