Synopsis:

These authentic and descriptive tales quietly portray the lives of a cross section of our times:  a reconstituted step family struggling to put down new roots, self-destructive women caught in unfulfilling relationships with men, rural dwellers evoking the basic desires and pains of their unchanging but nevertheless eventful lives

 In "The Nile," a "happily married" woman is surprised to see heer husband and herself differently after she spends a week traveling with him through the strange and frightening countryside of Egypt.  In "Diamond Twill," a young woman leaves her family to join an artisans' commune, finding there the kind of fulfillment nothing else had given her.  A rural excavator in "Connor's Lake" expresses his grief over his recent divorce by digging a lake -- and trying to forget his attraction to a friend's wife.

As these characters struggle to better their lives or confront the dilemmas that await them, we glimpse important moments of transition and transcendance.

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Topics/Categories:

Alcoholism, Divorce, Iowa Tornado, Small Town Characters, Step Families

Genre:

Fiction

Type of Work:

Short Story Collection

Awards:

PEN Syndicated Fiction Award The Iowa Short Fiction Award

Original Published Source:

Iowa Review, Ohio Review, Prairie Schooner, North Dakota Quarterly, Mademoiselle, Iowa Woman, Newsday Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Playgirl, Great River Review

Original Publish Date:

September 1, 1987

Formats and associated ISBNs:

0-87745-174-5

Formats:

Hardcover

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