First published 1989
A piano teacher sits alone in her studio, waiting for students who may never come. Across town, an interracial couple navigates the stares and whispers that follow them everywhere. A mother moves through her days carrying the weight of loss, while Vietnam veterans wander city streets with nowhere to go. These characters inhabit the margins of 1980s America, each struggling with isolation and the search for belonging. Sherwood places ordinary people in moments of quiet crisis, where small encounters can shift everything. A chance meeting becomes a lifeline. A conversation reveals hidden pain. The stories explore how people find each other across divides of race, class, and circumstance. At their heart lies the universal need for human connection in a world that often leaves people behind.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, ordinary-people-in-crisis
Setting: America
Period: 1980s
136 pages · Hardcover · The Johns Hopkins University Press