It’s 2011: America is in a deep recession and Occupy Wall Street is escalating. But at the elite Wrynn College of Art, students paint and sculpt in a rarefied bubble. Louisa Arceneaux is a thoughtful, observant nineteen-year-old when she transfers to Wrynn as a scholarship student, but she soon finds herself adrift in an environment that prizes novelty over beauty. More about this book >

• HONOREE 5 Under 35 2024 >

  Selected by Charles Baxter >

  Charles Baxter

  

  Charles Baxter is the author of five books of short stories and seven novels, including the forthcoming Blood Test. He is also the author of three books of essays, most recently Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature. His novel The Feast of Love was a Finalist for the National Book Award and made into a film starring Morgan Freeman. He has taught at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota and has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and the University of Iowa. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, and the Rea Award for the Short Story. He lives in Minneapolis. (Photo credit: Keri Pickett)