April 23, 2012 — Christopher Tilghman, a professor of fiction writing in the University of Virginia's College of Arts & Sciences, will read from his new novel, "The Right-Hand Shore," Thursday at 8 p.m. at the U.Va. Bookstore mezzanine. The book is set to hit the shelves Tuesday.

Tilghman, who joined the English department in 2001, directs its highly ranked Creative Writing Program.

"The Right-Hand Shore," published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, returns to the Chesapeake Bay and families Tilghman wrote about in his 1996 novel, "Mason's Retreat." Over the 15 years in between, he also published another novel, "Roads of the Heart," and two short story collections, "The Way People Run" and "In a Father's Place," plus individual stories in journals and magazines.

Charles Frazier, winner of the National Book Award for "Cold Mountain," said "The Right-Hand Shore" is "a rare achievement."

"Tilghman's vision of the American past – and particularly of individuals caught in the tidal sweep of history – is dazzling in its precision and clarity," he said.

— by Anne Bromley