Unfolding with the grandeur and suspenseful inevitability of real life, Mason"s Retreat tells the story of a family on the Eastern shore of Maryland on the eve of World War II. Tilgham"s prose is graceful and effortless, and his feel for the ebb and flow of familial relations is instinctual. Following up on the promise of his short story collection, In a Father"s Place, Tilgham takes his rightful place among the best writers of American fiction.