Book cover of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This: Stories

Book description

FINALIST FOR THE FRANK O’CONNOR SHORT STORY AWARD

NOW WITH AN ADDITIONAL STORY.

Heralding the arrival of a stunning new voice in American fiction, If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This takes readers into the minds and hearts of people navigating the unsettling transitions that life presents to…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Each one of these stories is a mini-novel, which are the sort of stories I love. Black never leaves you hanging, like some writers do, and you will feel like you’re right in there watching the story unfold. The writing has been called pitch-perfect and I agree. Every word is right, every moment fits and every character is trying to make sense of the world as we all do, every day. She deftly explores the emotional DNA passed from generations before and what that means for each of our lives going forward. So you get a great tale well told.…

From Randy's list on short stories for smart women.

If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This was a finalist for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award. I picked up this short story collection when I started my writing career. Everyone told me short stories weren’t popular. No one read them. Publishers weren’t buying them. 

It took Robin Black eight years to write these ten stories. Each word is exquisite. Penguin Random House bought it. We’re all reading them. 

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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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