In this entrancing first collection of stories, a master storyteller focuses on a fresh and fascinating range of human behaviour, revealing himself as an even more versatile and accomplished writer than his acclaimed novels have shown. With a delicious wit and gentle humanity reminiscent of Anne Tyler, and an edginess that recalls Richard Ford, Russo here captures both heartrending tenderness and bewildering horror with a fluency of tone that is all his own. And, as with all Russo's characters, we warm to these newcomers almost in spite of themselves. In the title story, a septuagenarian nun resolutely invades the narrator's college writing workshop with an incredible saga; a seasoned Hollywood moviemaker uncovers a 25-year-old flame he never knew he'd harboured; a precious fifth-grader puzzles over life, love and baseball as he watches his parents' marriage dissolve; another child is forced into a harrowing cross-country escape; and an elderly couple rediscover the power - and misery - of their relationship during a long-awaited retreat to a hurricane-swept resort island.
- ISBN10 0375411682
- ISBN13 9780375411687
- Publish Date 9 July 2002
- Publish Status Remaindered
- Out of Print 16 December 2014
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Alfred A. Knopf
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 225
- Language English