by Kevin Canty (2009)
Kevin Canty is a master of the short story whose work has been compared to that of Flannery O'Connor and Raymond Carver. In Where the Money Went, he surprises us with stories about love and the desertion of love, all written from a man's point of view. Rarely is a man so revealing.A narrator struggles with his abiding loyalty to his ex-wife, even when he finds love with another woman. A newly divorced man learns more than he wants to know about his friends' long-term marriages. In these nine stories, which incisively touch on the complex nature of love, we find men as fathers, as husbands, and as lovers, trying their best in a world that stubbornly refuses to make sense. Canty, whose writing has been praised as "smart, gritty, unsentimental" (New York Times), "lovely and unforgiving" (Boston Globe), and "enchanting and painful" (USA Today), powerfully conveys both the bitterness that can afflict romantic relationships, and the moments of humor and tenderness that cut through it.
Brian Moore
From the award-winning author of 'The Colour of Blood', this is the story of Mary Dunne. Mary has had several past lives and more than one husband - her true nature is revealed in this brilliant exploration of female desire and sexuality.
Laura Zigman
Hers began as a simple Cow-meets-Bull story: she, Jane Goodall (no, not the Jane Goodall) was the single, overachieving prime-time talk show producer with her heart on the shelf; Ray was the young executive producer with the J. Crew good looks and, it seemed, a love life as lonely as Jane's. They met for drinks, fell in love (so she thought), and looked together for an apartment. Then suddenly, inexplicably, in only the third month of their post-copulatory phase, Ray Brown was gone. When Jane, suddenly homeless, reluctantly moves in with Eddie Alden, her swaggering, womanizing coworker, she finds herself in the belly of the beast itself - the alpha male - and discovers, too, that she's not alone in the vast pasture of the brokenhearted. With a copy of Darwin's origin of Spedes in one hand and a notebook in the other, Jane sets up base camp at Eddie's and begins her research - on Eddie's bizarre chase-and-flee rituals, on the always-unlucky pairings of her best friends, David and Joan, and on her own love affair with Ray - all in a desperate attempt to unlock the mysterious methods of the male animal.
Valerie Frankel
It's uncanny! Within six months of breaking up with her, Peg Silver's ex-lovers always meet and marry the women of their dreams. Even worse than being the eternal bridesmaid, she's the last girlfriend, the one who awakens in a guy the knowledge of what he's always wanted in a relationship ... and it's never with Peg. Obviously, a major lifestyle change is seriously called for, which is why the distraught interior landscape designer says good-bye to Manhattan and late-night lattes with pal Nina, and hello to a farmhouse on ten acres in tiny, backwater Manshire, Vermont, hoping to meet the ultimate, all-organic country man (without too much facial hair) to keep her warm in those frosty New England winters.Instead, Peg finds herself at Inward Bound -- a proactive adult-education retreat for the hapless and hopelessly lovelorn -- to try to lift her dreaded "girlfriend curse." A steamy (and expressly forbidden) dalliance with gorgeous woman-eater Ray probably isn't going to help cure her. But some romantic insight could arise from her attraction to Linus, Inward Bound's sexy, scruffy, smart and still-single founder. Perhaps there is a secret to be unearthed in the crunchy Green Mountains, one that will magically transform Peg Silver from the Perpetual Also Ran to the Big Winner in love.
James Kirkwood
It's new year's eve. Your best friend is died in september, you've been robbed twice, your girlfriend is leaving you, you've just lost your job... and the only one left to talk to is a gay burglar you've got tied up in the kitchen. P. S. Your Cat Is Dead fun read from begining to end!