"Pieta is a true and generous wonder of a novel." -- Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff

Pub. date set for William Zink's new novel, Pieta. . . July 10, 2010.

Synopsis: Jim Priest's mother is dying. With his daughter beside him, he alternates caretaking duties with his sister. A year earlier his father died in mysterious fashion -- the head of the Virgin Mary from a lifelong sculpting project of The Pieta fell on top of him, killing him instantly. As days pass by, his mother falling in and out of coherency, the buried secrets of a bittersweet childhood re-emerge, forcing the four of them to accept, if not fully resolve, the limitations of their bonds.

Pieta is a story about personal ambition, the anguish of unrequited affection, and the redemptive spirit of a young girl. In concise, elegant prose, William Zink examines the singular, yet universal, forces tugging at the hip of a family in the midst of its most epic chapter.

"Pieta is a true and generous wonder of a novel. In sharp, beautifully written prose, William Zink takes on big themes -- love and devotion and family and death -- and makes us all the better for it."
-- Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff