Death of the Black-Haired Girl

A Editors’ Choice

“Fast-paced [and] riveting. . Stone is one of our transcendently great American novelists.” — Madison Smartt Bell

“Brilliant.” —

At an elite college in a once-decaying New England city, Steven Brookman has come to a decision. A brilliant but careless professor, he has determined that for the sake of his marriage, and his soul, he must end his relationship with Maud Stack, his electrifying student, whose papers are always late yet always incandescent. But Maud is a young woman whose passions are not easily curtailed, and their union will quickly yield tragic and far-reaching consequences.

Death of the Black-Haired Girl

“At once unsparing and generous in its vision of humanity, by turns propulsive and poetic, Death of the Black-Haired Girl is wise, brave, and beautifully just.” —

“Unsettling and tightly wrought — and a worthy cautionary tale about capital-C consequences.” —

“A taut, forceful, lacerating novel, full of beautifully crafted language.” —