The Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany

In these original essays, short stories, and poems, the beloved Frederick Buechner reflects on the moments of transcendence in the midst of his daily existence. In a myriad of commonplace activities, he finds the presence of the divine, and he elegantly describes these persons, events, and observations, nimbly transporting readers into these realities. With his masterly crafted prose, Buechner edifies, inspires, and offers a timeless model for approaching our human experience.

"The distinctly elegiac tone of this volume of reminiscences, poetry and fiction is established in the introduction, where the author confesses that while he can still produce the component parts, crafting a book is, at least at the moment, beyond him. But the octogenarian Buechner, a Presbyterian minister and author of more than 30 nonfiction and fictional works, is still a masterful writer, whose often whimsical descriptions of personalities and places do not mask his inexorable, sometimes self-deprecating candor and elegant restraint. Although the topics of his character sketches are as diverse as the poet Maya Angelou and the professors at the boarding school he attended, it is his family whose ghosts throng the pages of this volume. In these small prose gems Buechner brings his relatives to vivid life: the grandfather who made and lost a fortune, the grandmother who held court at Park Avenue and, always, the father whose suicide marks Buechner's work like a still-open wound. Buechner fans, whose numbers are legion, will find many small pleasures, leaves still fresh and green among the relics. (July) Starting May 18, one of the greatest archeological finds in China — the ancient terra cotta army of the first Chinese emperor — begins a two-year U.S. tour. Two new books relate the history of the emperor and this 'buried army.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Frederick Buechner is the author of more than thirty works of fiction and non-fiction. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.