Charles D'Ambrosio's essay collection Orphans spawned something of a cult
following. In the decade since the tiny limited-edition volume sold out its
print run, its devotees have pressed it upon their friends, students, and
colleagues, only to find themselves begging for their copy's safe return.
For anyone familiar with D'Ambrosio's writing, this enthusiasm should come
as no surprise. His work is exacting and emotionally generous, often as
funny as it is devastating. Loitering gathers those eleven original essays
with new and previously uncollected work so that a broader audience might
discover one of the world's great living essayists. No matter his
subject—Native American whaling, a Pentecostal 'hell house', Mary Kay
Letourneau, the work of J. D. Salinger, or, most often, his own
family—D'Ambrosio approaches each piece with a singular voice and point of
view; each essay, while unique and surprising, is unmistakably his own.