In this collection of stories, Tim Gautreaux chronicles the lives of "ordinary" people who face extraordinary circumstances and decisions: a farmer faced with the prospect of raising his infant granddaughter; a young man who falls in love with a voice on the radio; a train engineer who causes a colossal disaster. In stories filled with heart and humor, event and consequence, the customs and culture of Louisiana come to life in the hands of a writer who blends rare talent with an even more unusual humanity. Tim Gautreaux was born and raised in south Louisiana. His fiction has appeared in Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Story, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. He has taught creative writing for many years at Southern Louisiana University. In this collection of stories, Tim Gautreaux chronicles the lives of "ordinary" people who face extraordinary circumstances and decisions: a farmer faced with the prospect of raising his infant granddaughter; a young man who falls in love with a voice on the radio; a train engineer who causes a colossal disaster. In tales filled with heart and humor, with events and consequences, both the customs and culture of Louisiana come to life in the hands of a writer who blends rare talent with an even more unusual humanity. "Astounding . . . Masteries of grace and understatement, reminders of a what is most precious in human life . . . [Written] with an exquisitely expressed tenderness and hopefulness."?ÇöPolly Paddock, The Charlotte Observer"As good as stories get?Çöany stories, in any time or place . . . Imbued with the rich roux of family, place, race, and religion that is the base of all good southern fiction."?ÇöSusan Larson, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) "Gautreaux is as good a storyteller as just about anyone writing short fiction in America today."?ÇöJoel Lovell, The Boston Phoenix
