About the Author
Elizabeth Evans is a novelist and short story writer. Her first collection of stories was Locomotion. Her novels include The Blue Hour, Carter Clay (Los Angeles Times' Best Books of 1999) and Rowing in Eden. Her most recent book is the collection Suicide's Girlfriend. Evans is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a residency from the National Writer's Voice Project, fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, Arizona Comission on the Arts.

About this Book
Set in 1950s middle America, The Blue Hour tells the story of a typical but tragic family from the viewpoint of its younger daughter. Almost fiercely sensitive and empathetic, Penny Powell, ten at the time of the story and an adult at the time of its telling, watches her hapless entrepreneurial father, her devoted but changing mother, her newly adolescent sister, and their exotic new acquaintances. A move from small-town Illinois to the comparatively large and plush city of Meander and a trusted but fated new business venture for Penny's father provide the backdrop and impetus for a bittersweet, detail-rich domestic drama.