âDazzling.â âThe New York Times Book Review, Editorsâ Choice
âRichly satisfying.â âThe Wall Street Journal
âThese are stories you want to live inâŚa collection perfectly suited for our moment.â âBooklist (starred review)
A collection of stories âso beautifully crafted they feel like tiny worlds unto themselvesâ (Los Angeles Times) about women experiencing all lifeâs 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 âclosely observedâ (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. âBergmanâs 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 atmosphericâ (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).