Synopses & Reviews
Amy Bloom was nominated for a National Book Award for her first collection, Come to Me, and her fiction has appeared in the
New Yorker,
Story,
Antaeus, and other magazines, and in
The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. In her new collection, she enhances her reputation as a true artist of the form.
Here are characters confronted with tragedy, perplexed by emotions, and challenged to endure whatever modern life may have in store. A loving mother accompanies her daughter in her journey to become a man, and discovers a new, hopeful love. A stepmother and stepson meet again after fifteen years and a devastating mistake, and rediscover their familial affection for each other. And in "The Story," a widow bent on seducing another woman's husband constructs and deconstructs her story until she has "made the best and happiest ending" possible "in this world."
Review
"Amy Bloom gets more meaning into individual sentences than most authors manage in whole books." The New Yorker
Review
"[W]itty, whip-smart and deeply moving....[A]s Bloom offers quirky, searching analyses of how people adapt to life-transforming change, her writing is anything but clinical....Bloom's tales are an exotic variety, blossoming with humor, empathy and insight." Entertainment Weekly
Review
"With consummate skill and good grace, Bloom shows how people are capable of almost anything, and why." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Rarely does a writer pinpoint human foibles with such loving astringency." The Washington Post Book World
Review
"[A] masterful collection of short stories by a practicing psychotherapist....With tender, albeit sharp, sensibilities and ringingly precise use of language, the author affirms the absolute and essential need to heal, to survive, and to love." Booklist
Review
"[G]ritty, wisecracking, rudely contemporary....Bloom's precisely observed, rhetorically nervy stories sometimes strain our credulity but they burrow unerringly into her people's damaged hearts and worried minds with intensity every bit as compassionate as it is clinical." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
A licensed psychotherapist, Amy Bloom has been nominated for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Fiction Award. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Antaeus, Story, Mirabella, Self, and Vogue, among other publications, and in many anthologies here and abroad, including The Best American Short Stories; Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards; The Secret Self: A Century of Short Stories by Women; and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. She has previously published the short story collection Come to Me and the novel Love Invents Us. She lives in Connecticut with her family.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Amy Bloom