In 1974, a little boy is savagely attacked by his mother's pet Doberman; more than twenty years later another little boy disappears without a trace from his grandmother's back yard; in 1966, a pregnant teenager admits herself to a maternity home; in 1991, a young man drifts towards a career as a drug dealer. Following the threads of these characters' lives, Dan Chaon explores questions of identity, fate and circumstance. Why do we become who we become? And can we ever change the course of what seems inevitable?

When Arthur McCloud, the foremost collector of gemstones in the world, approaches jewel cutter Katherine Jessica Chandler to cut The Seven Sins seven extraordinary sapphires worth millions-it is the opportunity of a lifetime: the crowning achievement of her career and a job that must be executed seamlessly. Enlisting the help of the only man she can trust to transport the gems from McCloud's offices in Scottsdale, Arizona to her studio in Sanibel Island, Florida and back again, Kate discovers that even the most meticulous planning cannot allow for murder. With her messenger dead and The Seven Sins missing, Kate must discover the killer's identity to save her career - and her life...

Brother and sister Jack and Gin Rathbone, inseparable since childhood, inhabit a world of privilege and eccentricity into which no strangers are permitted. Until, that is, Jack falls passionately in love with Vera Savage, a flamboyant and reckless artist over ten years his senior. When they flee to New York City within weeks of meeting, Gin is forced to witness their relationship unfold from a bruised, bereft distance. But when Jack and Vera move to Port Mungo, a seedy town in the mangrove swamps of Honduras, Gin is afforded the opportunity to stake her claim to her brother's life again. This feverish world of tropical impulses and artistic ambition leads to a death swathed immediately in mystery as the various imperatives of passion, narcissism, and creativity hold them all in relentless thrall.