At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake
Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big
league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off
course, the fates of five people are upended.
Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future.
College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen
unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay
roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair.
Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best
friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his
own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish
after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new
life.
As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five
are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets.
In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find
their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled
with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive,
warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and
friendship and love, and about commitment--to oneself and to
others.