by John Casey
First published 2016
John Casey returns to the landscape he knows best in this collection of interconnected tales set in small-town New England. The stories move between generations of families rooted in the same valleys and villages, where old grudges simmer beneath polite surfaces and past decisions cast long shadows over present lives. A father struggles to connect with his adult daughter who has moved away to the city. Neighbors find themselves on opposite sides of a land dispute that threatens to destroy decades of friendship. A young woman returns home to care for her aging mother and confronts the choices that led her to leave in the first place. Casey writes with the precision of someone who understands how memory works and how people really talk to each other when they think no one else is listening. These characters face the weight of their histories while trying to forge new paths forward.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: New England
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
80 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform