by Megan Mayhew Bergman (Author)
"Dazzling." --The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"Richly satisfying." --The Wall Street Journal
"These are stories you want to live in...a collection perfectly suited for our moment." --Booklist (starred review)
A collection of stories "so beautifully crafted they feel like tiny worlds unto themselves" (Los Angeles Times) about women experiencing all life's beauty and challenges, from award-winning writer Megan Mayhew Bergman. A recently separated woman fills a huge terrarium with rare flowers to establish control over a small world and attempt to heal her broken heart. A competitive swimmer negotiates over which days she will fulfill her wifely duties, and which days she will keep for herself. A peach farmer wonders if her orchard will survive a drought. And generations of a family in South Carolina struggle with fidelity and their cruel past, some clinging to old ways and others painfully carving new paths.
In this "closely observed" (
The New Yorker) collection, Megan Mayhew Bergman portrays women who wrestle with problematic inheritances: a modern glass house on a treacherous California cliff, a water-starved ranch, and an abandoned plantation on a river near Charleston. "Bergman's stories are so emotionally rich that they serve as portals into distinct interior worlds...this collection is distinct and vivid...As singular as it is atmospheric" (
Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
Number of Pages: 304
Dimensions: 1.2 x 8.5 x 5.9 IN
Publication Date: March 29, 2022
