"A wise and necessary book, one I've been recommending ardently to everyone I know. " -Julie Orringer, author of The Flight Portfolio Suspenseful and gripping, award-winning author Michael Frank's What is Missing is a psychological family drama about a father, a son, and the woman they both love. Costanza Ansaldo, a half-Italian and half-American translator, is convinced that she has made peace with her childlessness. A year after the death of...

"Irreverent, charming, eminently quotable, this handbook--an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race--contains sixty-nine aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain's private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with...

"I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. "And I will give it away—to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography."

Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his "Final (and Right) Plan" for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion—to "talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment"—meant

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