In trying to figure out why Calliope Stephanides is not like other girls, she uncovers a guilty family secret and becomes Cal, a hermaphrodite.

This collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national crises. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other people's wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art collapse under the obligations of marriage and fatherhood; and, in "Bronze," a sexually confused college freshman whose encounter with a stranger on a train leads to a revelation about his past and his future.

A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.

Presents a selection of the best works of short fiction of the past year from a variety of acclaimed sources.

A collection of love stories and love story excerpts from classic literary works.