Melanie McGee Bianchi Boeken

A young maid at an upscale resort hides her banjo-playing freight hopper brother. An unlikely romance bridges a quarter-century age gap and a 150-year-old murder. A man tries to turn his sheltered mother's backyard shed into a pricey vacation rental. A gig worker must shake off her darker identity to become a professional baby namer. This mesmeric debut collection of stories set in the Appallachian mountains weaves together the curious and the sublime, with Bianchi's lyrical style cutting straight to the heart of the matter.---'Showcases the harsh and unfair realities of burgeoning gentrification...Bianchi's characters are people, they are secretive, wounded, conflicting'--The Southern Review of Books'Bianchi writes with graciousness for the reader: it feels like she's invited you on her porch to tell you these stories because you need to hear them'--Steven Dunn, author of Potted Meat'This is the best debut collection I've read in years'--Meagan Lucas, author of Songbirds and Stray Dogs'Beautifully unusual, told in penetrating, straightforward prose, these stories reveal genuine, universal truths, affecting and unforgettable'--Susan Beckham Zurenda, author of Bells for Eli