Actress in the House — Joseph McElroy

In the middle of an otherwise nondescript play in a "twelve-dollar-a-seat" downtown warehouse theater, an actress is staggered by a violent slap in he face from her co-star. As she gazes into the audience with a bloody nose, immediately a connection is formed with a middle-aged man, drawn in by this unmistakably over-the-line violence, seated in the eighth row. Almost against his will, with disconcerting speed and a revelatory power that unearths buried memories from their pasts, her life will invade his own. With its nuanced and compelling story of love and discovery, continually startling literary innovations, and lucid, omnidirectional prose, Actress in the House is a haunting and resonant reading experience from one of the most esteemed voices in contemporary fiction.