The Talker bookcover

The Talker

Stories
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
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Description

Winner of the 2017 Southwest Books of the Year Award in Fiction

"The heart in these stories beats out of its chest.... "
--BRADEN HEPNER

From security guards and jack rabbits to bartenders and blue herons, the desert-dwellers in The Talker surface with grit and grace from dust-blown trailers and ancient Joshua trees. With her signature down-to-earth storytelling style and uniquely empathetic eye, Sojourner writes a community seeking refuge, truth, and escape within the desert glare of the Mojave.

Product Details

PublisherTorrey House Press
Publish DateMarch 14, 2017
Pages200
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9781937226695
Dimensions7.9 X 5.2 X 0.6 inches | 0.7 pounds

About the Author

MARY SOJOURNER is the author of the novels, 29, Sisters of the Dream and Going Through Ghosts; the short story collections The Talker and Delicate; an essay collection, Bonelight: Ruin and Grace in the New Southwest; and memoirs, Solace: Rituals of Loss and Desire and She Bets Her Life. She is an intermittent NPR commentator and the author of many essays, columns and op-eds for High Country News, Writers on the Range, and other publications. A graduate of the University of Rochester, Sojourner teaches writing in private circles, one-on-one, at colleges and universities, writing conferences, and book festivals. She believes in both the limitations and possibilities of healing through writing--the most powerful tool she has found for doing what is necessary to mend. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Reviews

"If you ever wondered what life is like for the down and out, the remarkable Sojourner lays it out in precise and unsparing prose in her latest collection of short stories. Throughout, Sojourner's ability to bring extraordinary characters to life and bring depth and heart to ordinary circumstances makes this collection memorable."

--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review

"Sojourner uses passion, high-energy storytelling, and unflinching empathy to break the reader's heart."
--KIRKUS REVIEWS

"The abiding theme is that mistakes will be made, losses will pile up and yet--by accident or luck or sheer determination--most of these characters will manage to endure."

--THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"The heart in these stories beats out of its chest. Sojourner is the voice of the luckless, the rejected, and the defiantly free. Reading this collection will give you blisters in tender places, and you'll be proud of them."

--BRADEN HEPNER, author of Pale Harvest

"Sojourner is a weaver of the heart. She adds perfect threads, creating lives and moments so absolutely real and human you feel them in your own self, whether you want to or not. There is a sting beneath everything she writes."

--CRAIG CHILDS, author of Virga & Bone


"Long ago, farming families would leave a candle in a window at night so that a wayward soul wandering in the dark could find a way to comfort. This best describes Mary Sojourners' tales of small lives struggling for connection."

--H. LEE BARNES, author of The Gambler's Apprentice

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