In these ten varied and keenly rendered tales, Susan Dodd explores the levels of the human heart by leading us through a gallery of feelings, insights, characters, and emotions. Whether writing about a 100-year-old woman in South America, a teenage suicide in Winnetka, a divorced couple meeting by chance, or a pair of lovers listening to the family on the other side of their apartment wall, Dodd places us in a world full of subdued conflict where bonds between loved ones and strangers are tested, broken, and sometimes renewed. Her themes range beyond the regional or contemporary, embracing those moments of loneliness and self-knowledge that confront us all. As the characters meet and separate, wonder and react, we travel with them, exploring the forms of our existence, and the substance of our hearts.
"Dodd is a natural storyteller…[She] has a lot of affection for the contender in us, the part that knows more than it wants about loneliness, fear, grief, madness and pain but goes on trying to make sense out of life anyway."—New York Times Book Review
"…accomplished, unusually developed stories in which unremarkable premises are taken to funny and fascinating extremes."—Chicago Tribune
"…each tale is told in a poetic language rich in imagery, providing astute insight into the subtleties of emotion. These are moving, exquisite stories."—Publishers Weekly
