MARY GORDON is the author of the novels Spending, The Company of Women, The Rest of Life, Final Payments,The Other Side, and Pearl; the short story collections Temporary Shelter and The Stories of Mary Gordon; and the memoir The Shadow Man. She has received a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 1997 O. Henry Award for best story. She teaches at Barnard College and lives in New York City.