The Eighth Day Author:Thornton Wilder One summer's day in 1902 Breckenridge Lansing, director of a coal-mine in the Mid-west, is shot dead. His best friend and under-manager, John Ashley, is tried and unjustly condemned, but rescued by six unknown men on the way to the execution. — From this point, Thornton Wilder traces the fortunes of the Ashley and Lansing families both before and... more » after the tragedy--how they loved and flourished, suffered and survived--resolving his narratives with an unexpected but revealing conclusion.« less