A Parallel Life and Other Stories

The acclaimed author of The Lost Art of Desire explores grief and longing in the face of illness in this "delicate, atmospheric" story collection ( Kirkus). In the ten spare yet surprising stories in this collection, Robin Beeman delves into the inner lives of ordinary women, revealing their passions and frustrations with the limitations of life. In "Life Signs," a dying woman spends her final days camping on a beach with her husband. A man facing the death of his dog relives the traumatic loss of his father in "Secrets." And in the title novella, a married librarian gets romantically involved with an insurance salesman whose wife is struggling with cancer.