Eighteen-year-old Joshua Cushing wakes up in a psych ward, not knowing how he got there. Worse, he has only one eye. And no one in his family will tell him what happened to his girlfriend, Sophie. The one thing he knows for sure is that something happened, leaving him with a self and a life he barely recognizes. Once a popular long-distance runner, Josh is now flabby, frustrated, and furious about returning to his New Jersey high scho ol to repeat his senior year. Forced to attend meetings with other ""underage weirdos,"" he sinks into his loneliness. But when Josh meets Elizabeth Rinaldi, things begin to change. The only other new student in his class, she has a scar on her forehead, a Southern accent, and an attitude. Sharing a status as outcasts and an aptitude for snark, Josh and Elizabeth help each other escape their pasts. The Book of Joshua weaves an unforgettable story from family secrets, friendship, faith, love, and redemption. It brings readers deeply into the lives of those who suffer from mental illness, as well as the friends and family affected by it.

"Visiting Hours," a novel-in-stories, explores the lives of people not normally met on the page---AIDS patients and those who care for them. Set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and written with large and frequent dollops of humor, the book is a profound meditation on faith and love in the face of illness and poverty.