num_pages: 219
description: The exquisitely crafted stories in Anthony Doerr's acclaimed debut collection take readers from the African coast to the pine forests of Montana to the damp moors of Lapland, charting a vast physical and emotional landscape. Doerr explores the human condition in all its varieties-metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts-and conjures nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power. Some of his characters contend with tremendous hardship; some discover unique gifts; all are united by their ultimate deference to the mysteries of the universe outside themselves.
language: English
title: The Shell Collector
titlecomplete: The Shell Collector
genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Nature, Short Stories, Adult, Contemporary, Short Story Collection, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Africa
ratings_count: 15125
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Ohioana Book Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Penguin Books