Safe from the Neighbors is a novel of unusual richness and depth, one that's as wise about the small shocks within a marriage as it is about the troubled history of Mississippi. Steve Yarbrough is a formidably talented novelist, shuttling between the past and present with a grace that feels effortless.

I've been a little bit obsessed with religion, without being a religious person, for about a decade.

Because, really, what was worse than lying wide-awake in the dark, watching your life drip away, one irreplaceable minute after another?

I really wanted to be a musician, but it turned out I had no sense of time.

It just so happened that for most of my life I've lived in the suburbs.

Sooner or later we all lose our loved ones. We all have to suffer, every last one of us.

There's not some finite amount of pain inside us. Our bodies and minds just keep manufacturing more of it.