Set in the 1950s in West Virginia and Korea, 'Lark and Termite' is a story of the power of loss and love, the echoing ramifications of war, family secrets, dreams and ghosts, and the unseen, almost magical bonds that unite and sustain us.

A spectacularly riveting novel based on a real life crime by a con man who preyed on widows: "a brilliant fusion of fact and fiction, Jayne Anne Phillips has written the novel of the year" (Stephen King)--"think In Cold Blood meets The Lovely Bones--but sexy" (People).

In Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, a lonely mother of three, is desperate for money after the sudden death of her husband. She begins to receive seductive letters from a chivalrous, elegant man named Harry Powers, who promises to cherish and protect her, ultimately to marry her and to care for her and her...