This trilogy of brilliant novels-The Sports- writer, Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land charts the life and times of one of the most beloved and enduring characters in modern fiction When we meet Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter, his unguarded voice instantly wins us over and pulls us into a life that has been irrevocably changed by the loss of a marriage, a career, and the death of his child. We then follow Frank, ever brilliantly and hilariously observant, through Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, witnessing his fortune's rise and his family's fragmentation and reintegration. With finely honed prose and an eye that captures the most subtle nuances of the human condition in all its pathos, humor, beauty, and strangeness, Richard Ford transforms Frank Bascombe's life into a riveting, moving parable of life in America today.