Named one of the must-read books of the summer by TheChicago Tribune O MagazineBuzzFeed The Huffington PostMinneapolis Star-TribuneandThe L MagazineRebecca Makkairsquos first two novels The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House have established her as one of the freshest and most imaginative voices in fiction Now the award-winning writer whose stories have appeared in four consecutive editions of The Best American Short Stories returns with a highly anticipated collection bearing her signature mix of intelligence wit and heart A reality show producer manipulates two contestants into falling in love even as her own relationship falls apart Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall a young boy has a revelation about his fatherrsquos past when a renowned Romanian violinist plays a concert in their home When the prized elephant of a traveling circus keels over dead the small-town minister tasked with burying its remains comes to question his own faith In an unnamed country a composer records the folk songs of two women from a village on the brink of destruction These transporting deeply moving storiesmdashsome inspired by her own family historymdashamply demonstrate Makkairsquos extraordinary range as a storyteller and confirm her as a master of the short story formldquoRichly imaginedrdquo mdashChicago Tribune ldquoImpressiverdquo mdashO The Oprah Magazine ldquoEngrossingrdquo mdashMinneapolis Star-Tribune ldquoInventiverdquo mdashW Magazine.
