Stewart O’Nan Books In Order

Publication Order of Emily Maxwell Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Author Stewart O’Nan was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 4, 1961 and grew up in Pittsburgh, too. He got a BS in Aerospace Engineering at Boston University in 1983, and during his time here, he became a fan of the Boston Red Sox. He worked from 1984 until 1988 as a test engineer at Grumman Aerospace Corporation. He married Trudy Anne Southwick, his high school sweetheart on October 27, 1984.

Trudy encouraged Stewart to try and become a writer, and they moved to Ithaca, New York and O’Nan went back to college and got an MFA From Cornell University in 1992.

Stewart writes literary fiction and horror. His debut novel, “Snow Angels” was published in the year 1994.

“Snow Angels” was adapted into a movie that starred Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell, which was written and directed by David Gordon Green.

He was named one of America’s Best Young Novelists by Granta. His collection of short stories, “In the Walled City” was given the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in 1993.

“Wish You Were Here” is the first novel in the “Maxwell Family” series, which was released in the year 2002. A year after the nagging death of Henry Maxwell (family patriarch), Emily (his tyrannical widow) invites her scattered family to spend one final vacation together at their summer home on Lake Chautauqua. It is a place Emily has decided to sell after the family has owned it for decades.

The month of August, three generations are at the house, one of them is Arlene (a retired schoolteacher and Henry’s spinster sister). Meg, who is the oldest daughter and her “train wreck of a life” has featured financial problems, alcoholism, and a recent divorce. Ken, the reserved and distant younger kid whose battle to succeed working as a freelance photographer has put added strain on an already tough home life.

“Emily, Alone” is the second novel in the “Maxwell Family” series, which was released in the year 2011. Emily Maxwell’s kids moved away long ago. She imagines visits by her grandchildren while she mourns the turnover of her idyllic Pittsburgh neighborhood. Meanwhile, Arlene (her sister-in-law and sole companion) faints at the pair’s favorite breakfast buffet, it alters Emily’s days.

While she grapples with some new independence, she finds a hidden strength and finds life will always offer up new possibilities. Like a lot of other older women, Emily is an invisible yet familiar figure, one that rarely gets portrayed so honestly. Her mixed feelings, those of joy, regret, pride, and sorrow, are gracefully done in totally unexpected ways.

“Henry, Himself” is the third novel in the “Maxwell Family” series, which was released in the year 2019. Henry Maxwell (lover, son, churchgoer, breadwinner, and soldier) has spent all of his life trying to live life with honor. A native of the city of Pittsburgh and an engineer, he has always believed in things like logic, hard work, and sacrifice. He is now retired and seventy-five, he feels like the world has passed him by. The year is 1998, the American century is ending, and there is nothing that is simple anymore. His kids are distant, and their unhappiness is a mystery. Just his dog Rufus and wife Emily stands by him.

Once a confident man, while Henry’s memory and strength have deserted him, he weighs his regrets versus his dreams and has questions he is unable to answer. Has he done right by those he loves? Is he really a good man? With time short, what can he really hope for, realistically?

“Snow Angels” is the first stand alone novel, which was released in the year 1994. Western Pennsylvania in the year 1974. During a snowy winter afternoon, during the winter Arthur Parkinson’s parents broke up, Arthur’s high school band practice gets interrupted by the sound of gunshots. It is too close to be deer hunting, and it winds up being the sound of Annie Marchand being murdered.

Annie used to be Arthur’s babysitter, and the person he admired during childhood. She was a young woman that life did not turn out all that well for, would find no one she could blame, and could not keep herself, or her loved ones, out of harms way.

The story weaves together a pair of haunting tales. Arthur’s account of how his family fell to pieces and how it all went wrong the year that he turned fifteen. The story of Annie Marchand and the life she could not ever reassemble.

This is a hauntingly beautiful story, one of grief and loss as well as just how it feels to be a boy that is on the verge of becoming a man, experiencing the first big losses. Stewart masterfully uses the setting in western Pennsylvania to evoke the right feelings of grief, desolation, and loss. The book is a quiet and powerful read.

“The Names of the Dead” is the second stand alone novel, which was released in the year 1996. Close to fifteen years after his tour of duty in Vietnam as an Army medic ended, 34 year old Larry Markham is still being haunted by the grim nightmares from his combat experiences. Stuck in a dead-end job where he delivers Wonder Bread and distanced from his sick father. On top of this, he has recently been abandoned by his young son and long suffering wife. The only human contact he has is leading a support group for disabled Vietnam vets.

Larry struggles to resolve the unquiet wartime memories. To make things worse, a disturbed member from the support group, who is an ex-CIA assassin with some enigmatic scores to settle up, goes missing from the VA hospital. He starts stalking Larry and his broken up family.

For some, this book is one of the best books they had ever read. The book is heart-breaking and lovely, full of humor and sympathy. Stewart proves with the book how talented he is and how well he can write a novel. The prose is lethal, tight, and lean and the story is compelling to boot.