A novel of cultural and emotional divides—and the consequences of obsessive love—from the author of An Honorable Profession, a New York Times Notable Book. The Shrine at Altamira by John L’Heureux has the simple shape and powerful impact of Greek tragedy. When Maria Corazon Alvarez meets Russell Whitaker at a school dance, she sees his blue eyes and solid American name as a ticket out of the ghetto into a better life. They dance, they touch, they tumble into a love so strong and elemental it should last forever. But gradually the balance shifts; he loves her more, she loves him less. When their son is born, Maria gives him all her love and Russell is pushed aside. Wild, obsessed, Russell runs mad and his desperate love becomes a fire that consumes them all. “Mesmerizing . . . A powerful and affecting story about love’s most anguished and disturbing permutations.” —Timothy Hunter, The Plain Dealer

When Maria meets Russell at a school dance, she sees him as her ticket out of the ghetto, but gradually the balance of their love shifts. He loves her more, while she shoves him aside and devotes her attention to their son.

“The author seems to be standing on the shoulders of giants . . . gives a rare human depth to a young priest who wants to become a saint” (San Francisco Chronicle). In a pitch-perfect, deeply satisfying work of fiction selected as a New York Times Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, and recipient of the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California, master storyteller L’Heureux enters the world of an unorthodox young priest whose faith is put to the test. Father Paul LeBlanc is young, handsome, and charismatic, but he has dangerous ideas on sex, marriage, and birth control—and he just doesn’t uphold the decorum expected of a young priest. When, for no reason, a miracle occurs—a dead girl is brought back to life before his eyes—Father LeBlanc finds his faith, his vows, his reason, and his life itself called into question, leaving him with nowhere to turn. Witty, profound, and deeply moving, The Miracle explores the way God meddles in our lives and to what end. It is John L’Heureux’s best, most daring novel to date. “Written in swift-moving prose of unaffected simplicity . . . It comes off as neither pat nor preachy but, rather, as a delicately nuanced portrait of recognizable human individuals making what they can of life.” —The New York Times Book Review “L’Heureux brings the priest through his crisis of faith with the same tenderness that makes all his books such a pleasure in read.” —TheLos Angeles Times Book Review “L’Heureux’s snappy, succulent novel of faith and body, starts out sharp and ends with a razor slash.” —The Baltimore Sun

From an authoritative and compelling author, "An Honorable Profession" is a "splendid novel" realized "superbly well" ("Newark Star-Ledger") about an ordinary New England school where a young English teacher's life is about to undergo the most serious of tests. A "New York Times" Notable Book.

John L'Heureux spent his long, prolific career exploring questions of morality and faith in stories that entertain, surprise, and sometimes disturb; and The Heart Is a Full-Wild Beast compiles the enduring stories of a distinctive American writer.

A Harvard Dean with a perfect life discovers a dark side he never knew he had—or wanted—in this “sharp, moving, poignant” novel (The Washington Post Book World). Philip Tate is a man who has everything—youthful looks, a beautiful wife and loving family, and a distinguished deanship at Harvard. But a night-time drive will lead Philip to jeopardize everything in a moment’s flirtation with the forbidden. For on that drive he will meet the Kizers: beautiful, troubled Dixie and brilliant, kinky Hal. And by stepping into the Kizers’ house and into the midst of their sad marriage, Philip sets in motion the near ruin—and perhaps the salvation—of his entire world . . . In a “heavily ironic chronicle of professional success, inward misery, and middle-aged sexual guilt,” John L’ Heureux reminds us that sometimes—in both marriage and life—having everything is not enough (Publishers Weekly).

Historical Archaeology in Africa is an inquiry into historical questions that count, proposing different ways of thinking about historical archaeology. Peter Schmidt challenges readers to expand their horizons . Confronting topics of oral traditions, the role of cultural landscapes in social memory, and historical misrepresentations of various cultures, Schmidt calls for a new pathway to an enriched, more nuanced, and more inclusive historical archaeology. Allowing Africa to speak for itself without colonial interpreters, Historical Archaeology in Africa will be of interest not only to historians and archaeologists, but to all concerned with Africa's past and present.