'These 'tales of darkness and dread' won't put you to sleep, but they'll give you more interesting nightmares' New York Review of Books. 'A writer of extraordinary strengths' Guardian. 'If the phrase 'woman of letters' existed, Joyce Carol Oates would be, foremost in this country, entitled to it' John Updike. 'Oates perfectly captures the atmosphere of fear and well-meaning misunderstanding. And I loved 'The Last Man of Letters' a brutally funny portrait of a ghastly old literary celebrity heading for his comeuppance' The Times.

Joyce Carol Oates is the author of over 70 works and the winner of a host of prizes including the National Book Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Oates is Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University.