The Girl of the Lake: Stories (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781616203320)

Nine richly varied, often funny, always moving stories that reveal the complex workings of the human heart.

Bill Roorbach conjures vivid characters whose layered interior worlds feel at once familiar and extraordinary. He first made his mark as the winner of an O. Henry Prize for the title story of Big Bend, his first collection, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award. His new collection, The Girl of the Lake, captures a virtuoso in his prime.

Roorbach's characters are unforgettable: among them an adventurous boy who learns what courage really is when an aging nobleman recounts history to him; a couple hiking through the mountains whose vacation and relationship ends catastrophically; a teenager being pursued by three sisters all at once; a tech genius who exacts revenge on his wife and best friend over a stolen kiss from years past.

These moving and funny stories are as rich in scope, emotional, and memorable as Bill Roorbach's novels. He has been called "a kinder, gentler John Irving... a humane and entertaining storyteller with a smooth, graceful style" (the Washington Post), and his work has been described as "hilarious and heartbreaking, wild and wise" (Parade magazine), all of which is evident in spades (and also hearts, clubs, and diamonds) in every story in this arresting new collection.


Author: Bill Roorbach
ISBN-10: 1616203323
ISBN-13: 9781616203320
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Language: English
Published: 06/27/2017
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.20w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2017 pg. 34
Publishers Weekly 04/24/2017
Booklist 05/01/2017 pg. 56
Shelf Awareness 08/01/2017