These stories depict ordinary, recognizable people dealing with loneliness, loss, and mortality. A woman and her father experience an earthquake, and the incident reinforces the frailty of the dying man. A man must confront his fiancée's past when he realizes the identity of the "stranger" they meet on vacation. A best man arrives late for his friend's wedding, only to learn that the groom has died hours before.

Combining an evocative and compassionate style with familiar characters and enduring messages, Wilson treats fundamental questions of love, suffering, and humanity. His "lost fathers" provide a common thread that weaves together stories about fathers, husbands, and lovers, past and present-?and the women whose lives they change.

About the Author: Robley Wilson's Robley Wilson's previous story collections include Terrible Kisses, Living Alone, and Dancing for Men,which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Nicholl Fellow in Screenwriting. For 31 years he edited the North American Review, and now lives in Florida with his wife, fiction writer Susan Hubbard. FROM THE CRITICS Times (London) Wilson achieves magnificent emotional effects using homespun material. Christian Science Monitor A pleasure to read, if for nothing else but the sheer enjoyment of watching a master of the genre at work. Kirkus Wilson, for years one of our best short-story writers . . . goes modestly about his business, without glitz or brashness, but with a steady assurance that often resonates.

 Johns Hopkins University Press 0-8018-6717-7 / 9780801867170
Hardcover As New Baltimore 

Price: 19.11 USD