Because They Wanted To

A National Bestseller and New York Times Notable Book!

From the bestselling author of Veronica, a breathtaking collection of short stories about people struggling with the disparity between what they want and what they know.

A man tells a story to a woman sitting beside him on a plane, little suspecting what it reveals about his capacity for cruelty and contempt. A callow runaway girl is stranded in a strange city with another woman’s fractiously needy children. An uncomprehending father he...