Married, Living in Italy
By Misty Urban
()
About this ebook
An intensely imagined third collection from an author whose work has been hailed as "exceptional," "extraordinary," "uncanny," and "refreshing, compelling, and moving." Urban is a "great storyteller" who writes "almost unbearably lovely prose."
What unites the unlikely protagonists in these very different short stories is their search for refuge. In the opening story, "The Day of the Beheaded Barbie," the reappearance of an old friend pushes Melanie to a shocking discovery about her vanished sister and the daughter she left behind. In "Small Burials," Diana's husband whisks her away to Europe when children start haunting her after a devastating loss. Middle-aged Doris in "Table for Four" struggles with the disappointments that a set of customers in her diner throw into sharp relief, while Manya in "Gravel" tries to support her ex-boyfriend's wife while hiding the truth about their relationship.
Some choose an absurd imaginative escape, like Lonnie of "Married, Living in Italy," who's telling her family she moved to Florence, or Stella in "Care of the Soul," who hasn't yet managed to inform her children that she's returned to the country after fleeing her divorce. Then there's the desperately lonely narrator of "Someone in the House," who thinks she's being stalked--or at least, she hopes she is--while young Mireya of "The Far Shore" is turning into a fish to rescue her brother from an unbearable fate.
Through it all, these characters are crushingly believable and endearingly real in their defenses, their damage, their humor, and their sheer will as they turn suffering into salvation. Full of disappearing children and surfacing secrets, fragile triumphs and imminent loss, these eloquent tales laced with hilarity and grief illuminate shared human truths about betrayal, rescue, the places we seek shelter, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Related to Married, Living in Italy
Related ebooks
Standing on the Corner of Lost and Found Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSomeone to Love Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Whale House: And Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Lady's Lesson in Scandal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Upstate: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things I Want My Daughters to Know: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A House of Light and Stone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Itch: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5SpeakEasy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dove in the Belly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wildwood Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Night on the Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoventina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kingdom Where Nobody Dies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Astral Shore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurprisingly: The Red Hat Club Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHolidays in Manhattan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy the Devil Chose New England for His Work: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sing A Mournful Melody: A Gothic short Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBitter Maremma: A Leah Contarini Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSerendipitous Rose Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsItalian Summer: Mina's Adventure, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red Penny Papers: Vol II, Issue 4, Summer 2012 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexander's Part-time Band Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Lass o' Lowrie's Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLadies' Man: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFamily Of The Year Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Romantic Imperative Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI know you are but what am I? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStay of Execution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Short Stories For You
The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skeleton Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ficciones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Tuesdays in Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sour Candy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Explicit Content: Red Hot Stories of Hardcore Erotica Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unfinished Tales Of Numenor And Middle-Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memory Wall: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Married, Living in Italy
0 ratings0 reviews