Bacon's collection of finely wrought stories examines the human condition with rare power. Here is the debut of an author who can look at the state we're in with both a clear, cold eye and extreme warmth and tenderness. As understated as it is elegant, this collection gives us stories about love and luck, sorrow and safety - marriages fall apart, bargains are struck, people are lost as often as they are found. Whether set in Arizona or New Hampshire or Maryland, it is emotional territory charted here - a personal state of mind. Accomplished and complex, A Private State marks the arrival of a writer who will surely continue to chart new territory with honesty and grace. - Citation of the judges for the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award; ""A consistent, sure voice and recurring images (uncontrolled dogs, uncommunicative sisters, unhinged minds, unorthodox Thanksgivings) unite these II stories, which range more freely across geography than across thematic boundaries. Most are coming-of-age tales.... The loops of meaning coil from story to story, creating a memorable whole that transcends the sum of its parts."" - Publishers Weekly