A Crime in the Neighbourhood is set in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Its events are narrated from retrospective distance by Marsha, who as a ten year old saw her life impacted by a trio of events in the early part of 1972: the departure of her father (who elopes with her aunt), the unfolding Watergate scandal (which preoccupies her mother) and most importantly, the rape and murder of a young boy in her local area.

Fugitive Pieces is a novel in two sections, each focusing on a character's attempts to deal with trauma and loss relating to the Holocaust. Its first and longer section focuses on Jakob Beer, who as a 7-year old is the only person in his town to survive a round-up of Jews by invading Nazis. He is found by a Greek archaeologist, Athos Roussos, who take him into his care, moving him secretly to Zakynthos in Greece.