by Tim Johnston
First published 2009
In these interconnected stories, ordinary people discover how quickly someone else's tragedy can reshape their lives. A family watches their neighbor's house burn down, only to find the flames have already jumped to their own roof. A woman learns that the car accident she witnessed has ties to her own past she never suspected. A man's good deed for a stranger sets off a chain of events that destroys his marriage. Johnston places his characters in moments where bad luck spreads like a contagion, moving from distant headlines to personal catastrophe. The residents of small towns and quiet neighborhoods find themselves pulled into dramas they thought belonged to other people, other places. Each story examines how chance operates in daily life, how the misfortunes we observe from a safe distance can suddenly become our own burden to carry. These tales reveal the thin line between being a witness to disaster and becoming its victim.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, witness-to-disaster
Setting: Ireland
Period: 21st-century
137 pages · Paperback · University of North Texas Press