Perhaps that is why the novel flourished in England. You had these communities that would stay put and people would see one another all the time and cause one another to change and have the opportunity to observe the changes over time.

This Boy's Life (1989) concerns itself with the author's adolescence in Seattle and then Newhalem a remote company town in the North Cascade mountains of Washington State. In the Garden of the North American Martyrs (1981) a collection of short stories. Wolff however repudiates such claims.

He is known for his memoirs particularly This Boy's Life (1989) and his short stories. He has also written two novels.