This how-to-write fiction book is comprised primarily of exercises introduced by brief but informative essays on the aspects of fiction. Long on specifics and short on theoretical information so often found in books about the art of writing, this text provides a practical, hands-on approach to writing fiction. Organized by the elements of fiction and concluded by an anthology of contemporary fiction, this book helps all fiction writers hone and improve their craft. The elements of fiction-character, point of view, dialogue, plot, style and revision. For those interested in improving fiction-writing skills.

Novelist Anne Bernays and biographer Justin Kaplan -- both native New Yorkers -- came of age in the 1950s, when the pent-up energies of the Depression years and World War II were at flood tide. Written in two separate voices, Back Then is thecandid, anecdotal account of these two children of privilege -- one from New York's East Side, the other from the West Side -- pursuing careers in publishing and eventually leaving to write their own books.

Infused with intelligence and charm, Back Then is an elegant reflection on the transformative years in the lives of two young people and New York City. Marked by their youthful passions, this double memoir marries the authors' distinct literary styles with a riveting narrative that captures the density and texture of private, social, and working life in the 1950s.

"Trophy House" is an extraordinary and complex novel, at one level a romantic thriller, at another a deeply satisfying story about the disintegration of a marriage and the consequences for all concerned -- that rare piece of fiction that is at once thrilling, grown-up and completely believable.

It begins with the construction of a totally inappropriate and enormous house -- a "trophy house" -- which unexpectedly comes to threaten the tranquillity of what appears to be one woman's perfect life and marriage. Dannie Faber has lots of reasons to feel blessed. A children's book illustrator, she shares a loving marriage with Tom, an M.I.T. professor, with whom she divides her time between one of Boston's finest suburbs and a beloved beach house in Truro, on Cape Cod. And then, for reasons she could not possibly have foreseen, Dannie's life begins to unravel.

With "Trophy House, " Anne Bernays -- author of "Professor Romeo" and "Growing Up Rich --" delivers a poignant, funny, and ultimately wrenching story of adults in peril and the unlikely hope for romance that, in the end, becomes the key to surviving events that are beyond their control. It is a brilliant and moving portrait of a marriage.

As delightful and playful as it is profound and serious, The Language of Names is an absolute original -- a fascinating book that reveals us to ourselves, that demonstrates the endless variety of ways in which names shape our daily lives. Drawing on social and literary history, psychology and anthropology, anecdotes, and life stories, biographer Justin Kaplan and novelist Anne Bernays have written a fascinating account of names and naming in contemporary society that touches on class structure, ethnic and religious practices, manners, and everyday life.

Graceful, eloquent, and richly informed, The Language of Names explores and illuminates our favorite subject -- ourselves.