Pen/Hemingway Award-winning novelist Jane Hamilton follows up her first success, <i>The Book Of Ruth</i>, with this spectacularly haunting drama about a rural American family and a disastrous event that forever changes their lives.<br /><br />The Goodwins, Howard, Alice, and their little girls, Emma and Claire, live on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Although suspiciously regarded by their neighbors as "that hippie couple" because of their well-educated, urban background, Howard and Alice believe they have found a source of emotional strength in the farm, he tending the barn while Alice works as a nurse in the local elementary school.<br /><br />But their peaceful life is shattered one day when a neighbor&apos;s two-year-old daughter drowns in the Goodwins&apos; pond while under Alice&apos;s care. Tormented by the accident, Alice descends even further into darkness when she is accused of sexually abusing a student at the elementary school. Soon, Alice is arrested, incarcerated, and as good as convicted in the eyes of a suspicious community. As a child, Alice designed her own map of the world to find her bearings. Now, as an adult, she must find her way again, through a maze of lies, doubt and ill will.<br /><br />A vivid human drama of guilt and betrayal, A Map of the World chronicles the intricate geographies of the human heart and all its mysterious, uncharted terrain. The result is a piercing drama about family bonds and a disappearing rural American life.