The House at Belle Fontaine: Stories
"Tuck packs a small universe and decades of emotional history into each story."—Entertainment Weekly(A-)"Impressive . . . Evocative stories of beautiful language and masterful economy . . . Tuck [has an] unflinching eye for detail and faithful ear for dialogue bring. . . . These striking, compact narratives are reminiscent of the exquisite short stories of Edith Pearlman . . . [and feature] a rich complexity the magnetically draws in the reader. We become intimate witnesses to these private lives falling apart and, in some cases, coming back together."—The Boston Globe"For me, the most thrilling short stories conjure the psychological depth and chronological sweep typical of the novel. The ten stories in Lily Tuck'sThe House at Belle Fontaineall do this, their remorseless sentences meticulously deploying the powers of implication. . . . Her stories explain no coincidence, justify no twist of fate, and let no character escape the absurd workings of memory, whim, and desire. . . . Writers adamant about proportions are too unusual these days, all the more reason to celebrate The House at Belle Fontaine."—The Plain Dealer(Cleveland)"Tuck proves she is gifted in the short form with stories reaching far into the physical and emotional senses. . . . Tuck's agility and grace as a storyteller are quietly evident throughout her impressive collection. This is a writer at the top of her form."—Library Journal(starred review)"Compact, intense, and finely crafted . . . Packs a punch . . . Tuck opens private windows into the lives of women in foreign lands. . . . These women, unsatisfied with their lives, go searching for answers to their longing, and though they do not find them, the reader understands that the act of striking out away from the known is somehow, itself, enough."—Publishers Weekly(starred review)"Tuck's fiction is filled with strong worldly women who travel or live wherever they want—whether their men join them or not. Her work is always elegantly concise, capturing intimacies and emotions with just a few words of description and telling dialogue. . . . Tuck's fundamental focus [is] on the vicissitudes of relationships between men and women—and in this she is a master."—Shelf Awareness“Remarkable for its technical expertise . . . Impressive work from a virtuoso.”—Kirkus Reviews