by Amy Hempel
First published 2006
Amy Hempel writes about people caught between what they want and what they get. Her characters make decisions that feel like the only ones possible, even when those choices lead to small disasters or quiet revelations. A woman in San Francisco navigates the aftermath of loss. Someone else watches a marriage unravel in slow motion. Another person finds meaning in the smallest gesture from a stranger. These stories move through an America where people struggle to connect, where minor catastrophes reveal major truths about how we live. Hempel observes her characters with sharp precision and unexpected compassion. She finds the exact moment when everything changes for someone, when they see themselves or their world differently. Her people face divorce, death, disappointment, and the ordinary difficulties of being human. But they also discover resilience in unexpected places. The stories span nearly three decades of American life, capturing how we love, lose, and keep going anyway.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: quiet-moments, slice-of-life
Setting: San Francisco
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
432 pages · Hardcover · Scribner