Balthazar is a successful author; Odette is a cashier at a supermarket. Balthazar has a beautiful wife and a delightful home; Odette and the two troubled kids she is raising alone live in subsidised housing. Life has been generous to Balthazar and harsh to Odette. Yet, of the two Balthazar is the unhappy one. In this, and other short stories, Schmitt enchants his readers with a style that is spirited and buoyant as he moves from the story of a barefooted princess to that of a prisoner in a Soviet gulag and a perennially disgruntled perfectionist.
- ISBN10 1933372745
- ISBN13 9781933372747
- Publish Date 23 July 2009 (first published 7 July 2009)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 18 October 2023
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Europa Editions
- Format Paperback
- Pages 192
- Language English