Providence

An introverted English professor's quiet life gets turned upside down when he falls for a dangerous, enigmatic sophomore. Mark Lausson has everything he thought he wanted: a coveted job at elite Sawyer College in Ohio. But at the start of his second year, stuck in a small town with deadlines piling up and paychecks falling short, Mark can already feel the fantasy crumbling. And then, a few weeks in, sophomore Tyler Cunningham shows up in class. In Tylerconfident, mysterious, and popularMark glimpses another way of being in the world. He finds Tylers self-possession both compelling and unsettling. Caught in the rush of sex and secrets, Mark ignores the increasing evidence that Tyler cant be trusted. But by the time Mark comes to his senses, the irreparable damage is done. Complicating easy ideas of innocence, Providence explores the ways loneliness and desire distort our senses of self and other, right and wrong. Intense, propulsive, and impossible to put down, Providence is perfect for readers of P. J. Vernons Bath Haus and Donna Tartts The Secret History, as well as Patricia Highsmiths Talented Mr. Ripley and Garth Greenwells What Belongs to You.