Maggie Brown & Others: Stories, Hardcover/Peter Orner

In this powerful and virtuosic collection of interlocking stories, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist takes the form to new heights. In his orchestral and moving new book, Peter Orner, a writer who "doesn't simply bring his characters to life, he gives them souls" ( New York Times Book Review ), chronicles people whose lives are at inflection points. In forty-four compressed gems, he grips us with a series of defining moments. Whether it's a first date that turns into a late-night road trip to a s ance in an abandoned airplane hangar, or a family's memories of the painful mystery surrounding a forgotten uncle's demise, Orner reveals how our fleeting decisions between kindness and abandonment chase us across time. These stories are anchored by a poignant novella that delivers not only the joys and travails of a forty-year marriage, but an entire era in small-town New England. Bristling with the crackling energy of life itself, Maggie Brown & Others marks the most sustained achievement to date for "a master of his form" ( New York Times ). About the Author: Peter Orner, a two-time recipient of the Pushcart Prize, is the author of five previous books, including the novel Love and Shame and Love and the collection Esther Stories , a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His fiction has appeared in The Atlantic , The Paris Review , Tin House , and Granta , and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories . The winner of the Rome Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Orner teaches at Dartmouth College.