In the thirteen stories of Barkley's debut collection, characters are haunted by memory and missed chances, buoyed by humor and a fragile optimism. In "Under Water," a man whose job keeps him buried beneath the waters of the Chesapeake reassures his wife that their lives have meaning despite living in a world fraught with imminent danger. In the title story, two people living out their ruined marriage at an abandoned drive-in theater are offered a fresh chance at life with the arrival of two unlikely characters. "Escaping," set in turn-of-the-century Baltimore, depicts a young nurse from a typhoid ward in a life-changing chance encounter with Houdini.
- ISBN10 0870744100
- ISBN13 9780870744105
- Publish Date 1 November 1996
- Publish Status Temporarily Withdrawn
- Out of Print 10 September 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Southern Methodist University Press,U.S.
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 228
- Language English