Edward P. Jones

BReaders captivated by Lost in the City, Edward P. Jones’ 1992 collection of spare, mostly contemporary stories of life in some of the bleakest neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., had to wait more than ten years for a followup. While The Known World could hardly be called a disappointment—it did garner Jones the Pulitzer Prize—as a fat historical novel, it was, nonetheless, a spectacular departure. Now, with All Aunt Hagar’s Children, Jones returns to his native city and the experiences of its African-American residents over a broad swath of the twentieth century. He’s a master at cementing characters with sparse, telling details and life-changing moments. Four of the fourteen stories here originally appeared in the New Yorker, providing readers with a small taste of the pleasures offered by this collection.