'Gulp it down; it beats getting drunk.' - Salman Rushdie on WATER MUSIC 'If Dickens were alive today he would be writing this sort of book.' - Rosie Boycott, Books of the Year, The Times, on TORTILLA CURTAIN'establishes Boyle as the equal of Robertson Davies and John Irving. You only hope the Coen Brothers get the film rights, so that this most thrillingly visual of American storytellers is given the movie he deserves' Guardian on RIVEN ROCK 'surreal, daring and compassionate. Easily one of the best books of this year' Daily Mail on A FRIEND OF THE EARTH Maverick, unpredictable and accomplished, T.C. Boyle has been called the 'trickster of American letters'. AFTER THE PLAGUE is his latest collection of short stories - here are tales that superbly veer from the psychological to the slapstick, from surrealism to satire, once again proving him to be one of America's most formidable writers