News from Heaven
The Bakerton Stories

The news is not always good. Jennifer Haigh, clearly mining a favorite seam, manages to hit the motherlode again in her new tales of Bakerton, PA. Her 2005 novel, Baker Towers, painted a three-decade portrait of the small mining town, from 1944 into the 1970s, focusing on the lives of its residents,......more

Everyone knows a town like Bakerton. It’s that town you might have driven through – on your way from here to there -- where “the neighbors wanted nothing more from life than they already had: steady work, a new Chevy each year, weekends in front o the television drinking beer and watching ball.” It’......more

I have one shelf on my many, many bookshelves devoted to my all-time favorite books. Jennifer Haigh's debut novel Mrs. Kimble holds a place of honor there. She is remarkable writer, and her last novel Faith just reaffirmed my belief that she is one of the best fiction writers out there. She recently......more

Years ago, long before she became a gifted novelist, I worked with Jennifer Haigh. So when I stumbled across Mrs. Kimble, her first novel, in an airport book store years ago, I had to buy and read it. I've been reading everything she writes ever since. News From Heaven is a collection of short stori......more

Jennifer Haigh is a favorite of mine, and I've thoroughly enjoyed every novel I've read. I like her complex, multi-layered characters, and I like the somewhat distant, laconic voice in which she tells her stories; there is a non-judgmental quality about it that makes me feel some empathy for even th......more