In his third novel, Oliver Loving, Stefan Merrill Block, AB ’04, writes about a town and family dealing with tragedy and hope in the aftermath of a school shooting. The novel centers on the family of one victim, Oliver Loving, who was left paralyzed and wordless after the shooting. Ten years on, his family is in turmoil: His mother compulsively shoplifts, his father drinks, his brother has fled. A new MRI offers the family hope and may unlock the mystery of what really happened that fated day.
“Stefan Block’s profound third novel, Oliver Loving, is intricately constructed and rich with devastating, gorgeous prose. But it is the author’s rare and special sense of empathy — felt so deeply in every moment — which elevates this novel to a breathtaking place.”
– Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and All Grown Up