THE HALF-LIFE OF GUILT

Lynn Stegner's fiction has drawn comparisons to the works of Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, and Alice Munro. In her new novel, THE HALF-LIFE OF GUILT, Stegner tells the story of Clair Bugato, a biologist, and Mason Comstock, a photojournalist.

Together they journey to a remote area of Baja California, Mexico, to the world's largest saltworks, where a proposed expansion threatens the California gray whale population, recently come back from the brink of extinction. In the midst of an international conservation battle, they meet a mysterious son of Mexico, Rubio Cantú, who leads them to the powers that be--his father. Their two-week journey sends Clair deep into the past where, step-by-step, she reviews the divergent paths she and her near identical-twin sister have taken away from a childhood tragedy. At the same time, Mason comes to terms with his own unhappy past in Cornwall, England, and with a father whose hate has was stronger than his love. Lynn Stegner is the acclaimed author of six previous works of fiction, including her 2007 novel BECAUSE A FIRE WAS IN MY HEAD, which won the Faulkner Award for Best Novel and was named a New York Times Editors' Choice.