An excerpt from The Suicide Index earned her the 2007 Ploughshares Cohen Award for Best Short Story. Her work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories. It's one of those rare books that will haunt you for a long time after you finish it.' -Nancy Pearl, Morning Edition, National Public Radio JOAN WICKERSHAM is the author of the novel The Paper Anniversary. 'n extraordinary, magical mystery tour of a book.' - Los Angeles Times'Honest, brave, incredibly moving, and completely unflinching in its honesty.

His death made a mystery of his entire life.

The father she loved would never have killed himself, and yet he had. Dark, funny, sad, and gripping, at once a philosophical and a deeply personal exploration, The Suicide Index is, finally, a daughter’s anguished, loving elegy to her father. One winter morning in 1991, Joan Wickershams father shot himself in the head. Every bit of family history, every encounter with friends, doctors, and other survivors, exposes another facet of elusive truth. Who was he? Why did he do it? And what was the impact of his death on the people who loved him? Using an index?that most formal and orderly of structures?Wickersham explores this chaotic and incomprehensible reality. One winter morning in 1991, Joan Wickershams father shot himself in the head.The father she loved would never have killed himself, and yet he had.His death. Joan Wickershams The Suicide Index Joan Wickersham. 'Wickersham gift for making her memories sing as though they were our own.' - Elle One winter morning in 1991, Joan Wickersham’s father shot himself in the head.The father she loved would never have killed himself. Joans new book of fiction is THE NEWS FROM SPAIN: SEVEN VARIATIONS ON A LOVE STORY (Knopf).

The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham