Bodies at Sea - Illinois Short Fiction Author:Erin McGraw Carefully crafted, finely tuned, the 11 short stories in this collection often examine subtle shifts in family relationships. In "Accepted Wisdom," a coal miner whose wife has deserted him dotes upon his loving and capable teenaged daughter, only to be destroyed when he discovers that her promising life has taken a downward turn. A you... more »ng art instructor in "Life Drawing" finds unpleasant insights in the raw portraits her untutored sister-in-law sketches. Many of McGraw's meticulously evoked characters, damaged in some way, skirt the edge of madness or are propelled by their obsessions. Evelyn, a 53-year-old, respected professor whose kleptomania has been kept secret, veers over the edge when she abducts an infant in "A Thief." The title story tells of a 25-year-old widow who seeks consolation with an old friend, only to find him tightly bound to a deranged wife. In "Legs," a man's infatuation with old movies leads him to abduct from a nursing home his incapacitated aunt, a former Busby Berkley girl. Though these gently told tales sometimes seem overly mannered, most are ultimately moving.
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