It’s spring, time for a new Palahniuk to make us feel a little bit worse about life, grimacing all the while. These 23 stories of people desparate to be known, to have their stories told at all cost, are both a satire of modern television, and a gory look modern character.

Tampa Florida in the 1890s is hot, humid and many things to many people. A refuge for Cubans driven out by poverty. A home away from home for the rich and bored. And, for one wigmaker, a hunting ground for some very unusual prey.

Written with tremendous compassion and imagination, informed by love for the people of New York, THE WRITING ON THE WALL is a profoundly engaging novel about how one woman saw-and we all continue to ponder-the defining event of our time.