New York: Random House, (1998) dj. Hardcover first edition - An outwardly simple, but penetrating exploration of what happens when an older woman's quiet resignation to fate is shattered by a younger visitor. 242 pp. ISBN: 0-679457852.

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux / North Point, (1998) dj. Hardcover first edition - An account of a season spent by the author, his wife and young son, at a remote farm in Iceland - without electricity, running water or other modern conveniences - "Little Lava is a farm on the west coast of Icland. No roads lead to it; the way lies across a lagoon flooded twice a day by the tide. A lava field borders the farm. From the house, views give onto mountains, volcanoes, rugged coast, and the pure Icelandic sky".Map frontispiece, note on Icelandic. .289 pp. ISBN: 0-374525528.