From award-winning debut novelist Leslie Schwartz comes this stirring, erotic tale of a young woman whose grief over her sister's unsolved murder propels her into a torrid and dangerous affair.

Louise Goldblum is the new "it" girl on the San Francisco art scene, a sculptor on the cusp of national stardom, when her beloved older sister Esther is shot and killed in a motel room in an old California ghost town. Esther's sudden, mysterious death sends Louise into a tailspin of mourning and, after a night of hard drinking, into the arms of Zeke Heirholm, a controversial photographer. Volatile and furtive, Zeke draws Louise into a gripping and perilous sexual liaison — and a precarious new terrain of caustic pleasure.

At first, Zeke's hypnotic charms seem to offer Louise escape from the haunting events of her life — including her tumultuous childhood as the youngest member of the eccentric Goldblum family. But as Louise's trysts with Zeke become increasingly violent, so, too, does the power of her memories. The further Louise becomes entangled in Zeke's web, the deeper her mind retreats into the buried layers of her past, revisiting the turbulent and often self-destructive episodes that typified the Goldblum clan. Desperate to escape her chaotic past and tortured present, Louise risks everything — her career as an artist, her relationship with her family — in hopes of carving a path through the debris of her sister's death and her own shattered life.

Winner of the James Jones Literary Society award for best first novel, this profound and gripping psychological exploration is turning heads in the literary world with its powerful portrayal of a young woman hounded by grief. At once acutely perceptive, deeply engaging, and daringly lyrical, Jumping the Green marks the debut of a breathtaking new literary voice.

Leslie Schwartz is a freelance writer and editor. Her articles and short stories have appeared in such publications as Mademoiselle, Self, the Los Angeles Times, Sonora Review, and Yellow Silk. She Lives in Los Angeles.