First Light
By Charles Baxter

This is a simple, character-driven story. Hugh and Dorsey Welch are brother and sister, born in a small Michigan town, who are meeting after about 10 years of estrangement. What you would expect in a normal novel is to see their reconciliation. Instead, Baxter does something out of the ordinary: He shows us how they became estranged. The second chapter takes a step backward in time—and the third takes a step beyond that. He tells the entire story in reverse. This book impressed me so much that when I finished it, I remember saying, "One day I will write a book in reverse."