Barking Man

Ten tales of misfits in big cities and lonely backwaters, striving to free themselves from traps of their own making ? In each of Bell?s ten stories, characters struggle through trying times, captives of their own bad decisions or plain bad luck. In ?Black and Tan,? a farmer?s fortitude after the tragic death of his family leads him to become a savior of delinquent boys. The title story charts a London student?s crumbling psyche. And in ?Petit Cachou? hustlers and panhandlers in the French Riviera experience the darker side of life on a seemingly perfect stretch of the Mediterranean coastline. While depicting characters both sympathetic and hopeless, Bell?s remarkable insight makes for a vivid rendering of civilization?s many frayed edges. ? Barking Man is the author?s second collection of stories, and presents Bell?s writing at its most unforgettable.