The Dive from Clausen's Pier reminds us how fragile our lives are and how quickly they can be divided into before and after. It begins with a disaster that could happen in anybody's life, and leaves us to asking what we know about our deepest allegiances. Elegantly written and ferociously paced, emotionally nuanced and morally complex, The Dive from Clausen's Pier marks the emergence of a prodigiously gifted new novelist.