This is a trilogy of brilliant novels - The Sportswriter , Independence Day , and The Lay of the Land - that charts the life and times of one of the most beloved and enduring characters in modern fiction. When we meet Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter , his unguarded voice instantly wins us over and pulls us into a life that has been irrevocably changed - by the loss of a marriage, a career, a child. We then follow Frank, ever laconic and observant, through Independence Day and The Lay of the Land . ‘In Haddam, summer floats over tree-softened streets like a sweet lotion balm from a careless, languorous god, and the world falls in tune with its own mysterious anthems. Shaded lawns lie still and damp in the early a.m.’ - Independence Day .